Into the dinosaur's jaws
by Aimeefran
Summary: Ok, "It's a wonder I stay sane I'M NOT SANE talking to Hayley and Gabby in the evening" I have no real description for this story! I tried to keep it as sane as possible. I actually tried to make a serious -ish story from it! By the way: This idea came from a rather cute, but kind of odd looking potato, that I appropriately named Kevin. It's a 'what if Kevin was eaten' story
1. Chapter 1

Into the dinosaur's jaws.

_The pig snapped its large jaws viciously as if he were a tasty snack. He tried to pick up his pace but it was gaining on him fast. He looked around frantically for a means of escape but everything was blurring. He tried to carry on running but his feet seemed to be stuck to the ground. He swung around just in time to see the large mouth of the pig enclose over him, plunging his world into darkness..._

"KEVIN "

Kevin felt a smack across his head and he opened his eyes. The bright lights of the M.I.T office of Syndicate 9 made him squint momentarily. As the room swam into focus and his eyes adjusted to the light he looked round to see most of the team staring at him with a mixture of expressions. Lee was chuckling, Pete was shaking his head, Rachel was smirking and Janet was looking slightly concerned. He turned around to see who had slapped him. Of course, it was his boss, DCI Gill Murray, who was looking neither concerned nor amused. Her face was the familiar picture of irritation as she looked at him expectantly.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Enjoying your dreams?" she asked, and Kevin thought he saw her lip quiver with amusement before returning to her stony glance.

"Well, I..." Kevin's voice trailed off as Gill reached forward and picked up the sheet of paper in front of him and studied it closely.

"Kevin, is this the report on the CCTV that Janet asked you to write up two hours ago?"

"Y-Yes Ma'am"

"There's more chocolate biscuit on this piece of paper than there is ink!"

"Well I..."

"Kevin, you're a detective of Her Majesty's constabulary!" She looked at the end of the form more closely "And you've spelt my name wrong!"

There was a snort from behind him. Both Rachel and Lee had begun to laugh.

"How many R's in 'Murray' Kevin?" asked Gill, using the same exasperated tone she used to use if her son Sammy got something wrong at the age of 5!

"Errr"

"KEVIN"

"two ma'am" Kevin said, so quickly that it sounded like he'd said 'mum'

"Correct!" said Gill, taking off her red rimmed glasses, which had been balanced on the edge of her nose. She shot a look at Rachel again who had obviously heard 'mum' as well. She noticed that even Janet couldn't hide her amusement.

"So why, may I asked, did that slip your memory when writing my bloody name in the box marked S.I.O?"

"I..."

The whole room had now stopped what they were doing and were watching him intently. Kevin sighed, it was _always_ him. He hadn't intentionally spelt 'Murray' with only one 'r'. Surely, it was a mistake that anyone could make? He looked up at his boss. Clearly she did not think so.

"I'm sure I've asked you this before Kevin, but what drew you to M.I.T?"

"I..." said Kevin again. Usually he'd give some witty answer which would result in a look from Gill, followed by the silent treatment for several hours, which Kevin could quite put up with. This time, however, he wasn't feeling so brave.

"Sorry, ma'am. I'll err, print another form off" He got up, pushing his chair back as he did so. There was a stifled gasp and he swung round to see Gill's face slowly screwing up in pain. He had bashed her foot hard with the chair"

"Oh my...ma'am are you alright?" said Kevin in horror.

"I'm fine" said Gill in one swift exhale, as if she were trying to breathe through the pain.

"Can I do anythi..."

"No!" said Gill, shaking her head fast, "No, I think you've done enough" Kevin was bright red in the face, mortified at what had just happened.

"If you could remember not to be so bloody clumsy next time, that would be VERY helpful, and may even save me the amputation of several of my toes"

Kevin nodded, looking down at the floor. Gill looked around the room, nodded to Janet, and then half walked, half limped back to her office.

The second the door was shut Kevin sunk back in his seat and put his head in his hands.

"Well done Kev" said Rachel, and began to laugh. Janet nudged her.

"Don't worry Kev, it was an accident! Although, you shouldn't have been asleep"

"It's alright Kev" said Lee, as if trying to stifle a snort. "You could always offer her some oinkment for it!" and with that, the whole room erupted into laughter.

Kevin looked up and a look of realisation washed over his freckled face. He must have been talking in his sleep. Great. The whole station now knew he was being chased by a giant pig, when he was supposed to be filling in the CCTV report. He tried to play it cool. "What are you on about?"

"Nothing" said Lee smiling. It's just, a little birdy...or should I say piggy" Rachel snorted again "told me that someone was having a bit of trouble in their sleep!"

"What do you mean?" Asked Kevin uncertainly.

"Oink Oink" Said Rachel in mock Kevin voice. "Please don't hurt me, no, oink oink, go away" The room all laughed again, except Janet who still looked slightly concerned.

"Are you ok Kevin?" she asked, kindly.

"I'm brilliant" said Kevin sulkily, and with that, he got up and walked quickly out of the room with his head bowed in embarrassment.

XxXxX

Later that day the amusement of the morning's events had worn off slightly, despite Lee offering to buy Kevin a bacon sandwich on their lunch break. Gill had called a briefing late that afternoon to discuss a new case where a girl had been found dead in a scrap yard not far from the station. Post mortem results showed she had been hit over the head with a blunt object, and been left in a car which was ready for scrap. She didn't appear to be interfered with but her face was muddy and scratched down one side, consistent with her being dragged along the floor. Gill was just assigning specific tasks to each of her team, when a uniformed officer appeared telling her that they'd received an anonymous phone call claiming that the murderer would return there that night. After a long debate as to whether they should let uniform deal with this, Gill had agreed to let Janet take Kevin, Rachel and Pete down to the scrap yard in the hopes of being present for the arrest, as apparently this would reduce paperwork.

It was getting dark as Janet drove Rachel, Kevin and Pete, all wearing stab proof vests, down to the scrap yard in an unmarked police car and parked in the next street. They greeted the uniformed police who had surrounded the area, and were informed that a few of them had been called to a disturbance not far from there, so they were 5 members short. Janet agreed to let Rachel and Kevin go into the scrap yard as long as they promised to stay well out of danger. She and Pete joined the surveillance team from a small gap in the fence at the side of the yard and waited. For ages nothing happened. Then, without warning, Janet's sharp ears picked up the sound of a car. She heard the screeching of breaks as it rounded a corner and guessed it must be travelling at quite a speed.

Inside the scrap yard, Kevin and Rachel had split up. Kevin had found an old, rusted Ford Fiesta with its door open. Ignoring an uncertain look from Rachel, he had clambered in. She, on the other hand, had crouched behind a stack of old tires, and was at that moment praying that they wouldn't all fall straight onto her head. She had been crouched there for quite a while and she was beginning to worry that her knees would give way, but dared not sit down for fear of not being able to spring into action quick enough. Suddenly, she too heard the screech of brakes, and the fast approaching car. There was a crash as it broke through the barrier on the entrance to the scrap yard and another loud screech as it tried to slow down. Unfortunately, at the speed it had been travelling, the sudden braking had made the car spin uncontrollably, Rachel just got to her feet in time to see the flash of headlights as the car glided smoothly into the pile of tires. In a split second she heard a crash next to her as one of the top most tires fell. Within moments she knew the tires were falling all around her. She saw a gap between two cars and dived in there as the entire heap of tires cascaded down, covering the piece of ground where she had been stood mere moments before. Rachel looked up. The tires had stopped raining down, but she was trapped. The spinning car had been prevented from going any further by the sturdy metal fence surrounding the yard. She could hear the yells of police from the entrance but this was soon drowned out by another noise, a horrible, metallic, grinding noise. Rachel looked around and saw an almighty metal claw swing over the pile of cars she was crouched between, and advance down onto the car with its headlights still on. In her horror, Rachel tried to see if anyone was still in the front seats. She tried to push the tires in front of her, but they were heavy, and had fallen in such a way, making it difficult for her to move one, without having to push them all. Then, without warning, there was a loud crunch as the metal claw closed over the roof of the offending car. However, when it tried to lift it, the car only came about half a meter off the ground, before falling back with a smash. The metal claw made another dive for the car, but as it did so the arm of the claw swung dangerously to the right, and closed its great metal talons around the roof of a car close by. Rachel squinted to see the car as it was successfully lifted off of the ground, and suddenly her stomach churned sickeningly. That was the car that Kevin had hidden in.

"KEVIIIIIIN" Rachel no longer cared that she was supposed to be on surveillance. The only thing she cared about was that Kevin was suspended above her head in a car. She saw a black shape hit the still-intact window as the car swung sideways. She began to push frantically at the tires in front of her and they slowly began to give.

"KEVIIIIN" She screamed again, her voice echoing round the yard along with the grinding sound of the great machinery holding the car.

"Rach?" She could hear Janet's voice calling her name from the other side of the yard.

"Here" Rachel called, and before she knew it, two uniformed police were helping her out from behind the tires. She staggered out, ignoring the arms of the police officers trying to steady her.

"Keviiiiin" she could see the car as it swung away into the darkness, but the small amount of light which reached it, was also illuminating something else. Rachel gasped as she saw the large machine that the claw holding Kevin's car was quickly advancing towards.

"Rach, are you ok?" said Janet running over to her.

"K..K.." Rachel was waving her arm in the direction of the machine but her frantic brain seemed to have lost the ability to string letters together.

"Where's Kevin?" asked Janet looking all around the yard. Rachel shook her head, still waving her arm at the claw which was slowly becoming level with the great machine. Rachel pushed past Janet and ran towards it. Janet, still unaware, ran after her shouting, quickly followed by Pete, and two uniformed officers.

Rachel stopped and looked around again, frantically, trying to see what was controlling the claw, but her eyes were still unaccustomed to the darkness and all she could see was the area lit by the offending car's headlights, which were still shining brightly onto the fence it had hit.

"STOP" Rachel yelled into the darkness as Janet and Pete both caught up with her.

"Rachel, what is it?" Janet said, desperately, trying to take hold of her friend's flailing arms.

"Kevin's in that car!"

"What?" said Janet, looking round at the stopped car with its headlights on.

"No" Rachel shook her head desperately, jabbing her hand in Janet's arm to make her see. Janet turned back to her. "THAT car!" Rachel pointed to the car which was now swinging above the heavy machinery, waiting below like a dinosaur's mouth, ready to chew it up as soon as it dropped.

"JESUS!" said Janet and Pete at the same time. "Quick, stop it!" The uniforms ran off, shouting as they went. The machinery was completely fired up, ready for crushing the next car that fell between its jaws. The calls of the police were soon drowned out by the noise as they disappeared into the distance. Janet, Rachel and Pete went running to the edge of the large machine, as if hoping to find an emergency stop button. The grinding sound was getting louder, and suddenly there was a large crunch as the car roof of the Ford Fiesta completely disconnected itself from the body of the car. Janet, Rachel, and Pete turned in horror, just in time to see the Ford fiesta falling through the air. For a moment, everything seemed to stop. Everything seemed to slow down as the car fell. Rachel's heart was beating in her ears, and the sound of the machinery sounded distant, and safe. Suddenly, *CRASH* the car landed between the jaws of the large machine, and they snapped shut. The sound of the crunching metal was sickening, but none of the three could move. They stood there, frozen with horror. None of them daring to imagine what was happening to the car. Or, more importantly, what was happening to Kevin...


	2. Chapter 2

XxXxX

The scrap yard was now full of light. It was ironic; Rachel thought, that this was the time the three detectives probably most craved the darkness. She was perched next to Pete on a tire, watching Janet talking to a couple of uniformed police constables. She dared not look over at the large machine. Once someone had found the control room and managed to stop the machine, there had been desperate attempts made to recover the Ford Fiesta, but Rachel already knew that their haste had subsided when they had seen the car. She felt numb. She didn't know what to think, and beside her, she knew Pete felt the same. He was gazing into the distance, and he hadn't yet spoken a word. His face was always rather solemn, but he had always had a glint in his eye...until now.

The two of them were brought back to the present with the arrival of Gill, Mitch and Lee. Gill went straight over to Janet who solemnly explained the finer details of the accident. From behind them, a grinding sound begun. It was a sound Rachel had never really heard before that night, but now it turned her stomach, and she hoped she would never hear it again.

They all turned slowly toward the machine as they saw a small, crushed piece of metal, which had been a rusted Ford Fiesta just an hour previously, lifted from the workings of the now dormant machine. Rachel inhaled swiftly, and she knew the others had done the same; but there was no blood. No mangled body.

Rachel watched the object being lifted into the air, and then lowered down to the ground. As they carefully placed what was left of the car on the tarmac below, her eyes wandered back to the side of the machine. It was silver in colour but she noticed for the first time that four letters were printed in bright red block capitals along the side. R.A.W.R. It meant nothing to Rachel, and her gaze began to follow the arm of the crane as it slowly rose back up and plunged into the machinery. After a moment it emerged once more, and between its claws was something that made every member of the team wince with mental pain.

As the stab proof vest was lowered to the floor and Gill was hailed to come and identify it, Rachel's head swam as the true extent of what had just happened hit her. She was only aware that she was swaying when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Janet's kindly, concerned face staring at her with her large blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"Kevin." Rachel whispered back, and Janet nodded in understanding. She squeezed Rachel's shoulder then slowly began to walk, coaxing Rachel to do the same. As they approached the place where Gill was staring down at the black object on the floor, they heard her give a confirmation to a uniformed officer that it was indeed Kevin's vest.

The shining silver badge of the Metropolitan Police seemed to glow in the light from the yard. Slowly, each member of the Major Incident Team, Syndicate 9, bowed their head in respect.

XxXxX

The usual buzz of conversation that filled the office as Gill entered was completely absent the following morning. She looked around at her team. Pete was stirring a teaspoon round and round his cup of tea. Mitch and Lee were sitting there solemnly. Janet was staring at the blank computer screen in front of her, and Rachel...Gill had never seen her look so pale. Her hair was carelessly tied into a pony tail, a style which Gill had seen on countless occasions, and had always attributed to a hangover. She also had the familiar dark circles under her eyes, but the warmth and character in her facial features weren't there. Her face was blank. Emotionless. Gill didn't like it, but she knew how Rachel felt. Gill was more familiar with the numb, empty feeling, than she was with feelings of sadness or grief. It was the feeling she adopted when she felt too close to a particular case. She knew that becoming emotionally involved in a murder case was never a good idea. It could have serious effects on both judgement and performance. But...this wasn't 'just another murder case'. This wasn't a 'major incident' which could be passed on to C.I.D within a matter of days. This was Kevin. This was the death of one of her officers; Detective Constable Kevin Lumb.

XxXxX

"I'd like to speak to the proprietor of this yard, if that's possible?" Rachel said, flashing her police ID badge at a spotty youth, who looked barely old enough to be out of school.

"Oh" he said, sniffing. "Miss Reynolds is out at the minute, but she said she would see you later"

"Sorry pal, did you not here me?" said Rachel, frustrated. "I said Metropolitan Police, not Jehovah's bloody witness" Janet smiled. She was glad that Rachel was acting close to her normal self. "I want to see the owner of this property NOW." Rachel continued, as the youth shrugged. "Were you not aware that a suspicious death took place here last night?"

The youth seemed to be looking around him helplessly, and a look of relief washed over his face as someone called, "can I help?" from behind them.

Janet and Rachel turned to see a man in what they were familiar with as an orange community service uniform, but in this case was more likely to be a brightly coloured body suit, to help identify him among the cars.

Janet stepped forward and held out her badge. "My name is Detective Sergeant Janet Scott from the Manchester Metropolitan Police Major Incident Team" The man gave a nod of acknowledgment, unzipping his orange uniform to reveal a grubby white shirt underneath. "As I'm sure you're aware" continued Janet, "An officer was killed here last night in suspicious circumstances, less than a week after the body of a girl was found in a car in this same yard" The man nodded again. "We're investigating what we believe to be the _murder_ of this girl, and we are, at the same time, attempting to establish the cause of the tragic..." Janet paused, as if trying to find the words.

"Of the reason" Rachel continued, "that last night, an officer of the law was tragically killed"

Janet nodded, and they both looked at the man, who had now slipped both of his arms out of his fluorescent suit and had let it hang round his waste.

"Ok" said the man slowly. "Well, as I'm sure Barry had told you" he gestured at the youth "Miss Reynolds is the one you'll want to talk to, and she's not here!"

"Actually, Mr...?"

"Terry. Terry Robson"

"Actually, Mr Robson we're going to need to ask you and all of the lads a few questions"

"What kind of questions?"

"Well" said Janet, realising she would have to tread carefully. "We believe that someone may have deliberately set that big machine off last night"

"The dinosaur!" said the youth quietly from behind Rachel.

She turned to him. "Why's it called the dinosaur?"

"Well" said the youth uncertainly, looking at Terry for permission, who merely shrugged. "Folks say it just starts on its own, it comes to life, like a dinosaur returning from the Jurassic age"

"Sorry" said Rachel, shaking her head as if she'd heard him wrongly "it just starts on its own?"

"It's just a silly story we always tell the new kids" said Terry, quickly. "We call it the dinosaur because of the letters on the side" he pointed to the side of the machine that Rachel had read last night. "See, R.A.W.R!" said Terry as the women turned back to face him. "Sounds like 'roar' don't it? And, as for folks hearing it, it's all in their heads. Some people claim to have heard it working at nights, but I'm telling you. That machinery ain't easy to use. If someone _is_ using it at night, they'd have to be pretty experienced in my opinion!"

"So" said Rachel, shaking her head again, still a little confused. "What does R.A.W.R stand for?"

"Reynolds Automobile Waste Recipient... or something like that!" said Terry "We always just call it the Dino!"

"We're going to need to see the control room" said Janet calmly, after a glance at Rachel, who was looking rather bewildered.

"Have you got a warrant?" asked Terry, raising his eyebrows.

"Mr Robson" Janet said calmly, with a very slight smile. "An officer of my team was killed here last night. So, the question is not 'Do we have a warrant?', but rather 'does your boss have a good solicitor?'

And with that, she and Rachel purposely walked past him towards the now visible control room of _'the dinosaur'_...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- "The funeral"

"Ma'am, they've collected the...the remainders of the body" said Lee, who was standing at her office door. Gill took her glasses off her nose and sighed.

"Thanks" she said, nodding at him. "And, have we got an official ID on the...what's left?"

"The body itself seemed to have fallen from the car before the car made contact with the machinery. It was wedged to the side of one of the...the bits that crushed the car, which is why there was no visible evidence on the scrap metal when it was pulled from the machine."

Gill nodded slowly, as Lee continued.

"We're hoping for an identification from the police DNA database within the next 12 hours. Apparently the body was cut cleanly by a sharp edge, but after the car was fully crushed, most of the body was then dislodged, and...well..."

"Crushed?" whispered Gill helpfully.

"More like minced" Lee sighed, and Gill winced. She was used to receiving gory details, but never before had it been someone she knew. Someone who, just 24 hours ago, had been asleep just outside her window, mumbling about pigs, and crushing the remainder of the chocolate biscuit he'd been eating into her misspelt name on an important document. Gill nodded at Lee and he left, shutting the door behind him.

For a while she sat there, swinging her glasses in her hand, and staring out onto Kevin's desk, as she so often did. Gill never realised how fond of the sight of Kevin looking confused she actually was. His face as he read something, looking momentarily disheartened, then realising it was the wrong way up and turning it round the right way to read it again, was something Gill had seen so many times. She couldn't believe how much she missed it already. How alive it had made her feel to realise that she had taken someone on from Syndicate 3,-someone that her good friend Julie Dodson had termed _'a hopeless case_, _whose mental furniture would always stay in storage'_- and turned him into someone who occasionally showed real progress, and had become so important to the team she had grown to love. Had she, actually, grown to love Kevin? She surprised herself by letting out a small giggle at the thought.

What about the funeral? Gill could imagine it quite clearly.

There would be a group of people that Gill had only been briefly introduced to as Kevin's immediate family. They would all be civil to her, whilst secretly thinking, _'that's the bitch that encouraged my son to continue in the police'_. And whilst they went on about how wonderful and perfect Kevin was, Gill would feel the need to make a swift excuse to get away before inappropriately scoffing at what _'darling Kevin'_ had been like. All the women would be dressed in the black clothes that they so often had to pull out for a victim's funeral, but this time Gill would replace her blood-red painted fingernails for a respectable black polish. Janet would be standing by Rachel. They would both be wearing expressions of grief, but this would be portrayed differently in each of their faces. Janet would be solemn, her blue eyes clouded with tears. Sorrow and guilt would be etched onto every feature of her face. Gill knew that Janet blamed herself. She hadn't been a Sergeant long, and she'd allowed Kevin and Rachel to go into that yard alone. Gill mentally reminded herself to have a word with Janet about this. Make sure she knew that it _wasn't_ her fault.

Rachel's face, on the other hand, was more difficult to predict. It would definitely be different to Janet's, and yet she knew that Rachel also blamed herself. She was trapped at the time Kevin was in trouble, but she had left him to hide in the car, and she had witnessed him being lifted away by the great machine. She could imagine Rachel making small talk with the occasional person who might ask her 'what was Kevin like to work with?' Gill could see Rachel clearly in her mind, her eyes darting this way and that as she tried to find the appropriate words to describe Kevin in a way that was not untruthful, but far from an accurate representation. Rachel would then offer her condolences to the family, turn to Janet whispering "Pub?" and probably trip over something on the way out of the graveyard. Gill nearly let out another giggle. What was wrong with her? First the thought of Kevin, now the thought of Rachel, seemed both highly amusing too her. It was at this moment Gill realised that, incompetent as both of them occasionally- actually, in Kevin's case, a large majority of the time- were, she really valued the young, fresh spirit they brought to the team. It wasn't often that you'd find a young detective as driven as Rachel...or a young detective as daft as Kevin! As Kevin _had_ been...

Gill considered what role she herself would be playing at his funeral. She imagined herself trying to avoid small-talk with anyone throughout both the service and the burial. She'd probably be found standing outside alone. Actually, no, she'd stand with her good friend Julie Dodson. SHIT. Had anyone told Julie? She'd been Kevin's superior just a couple of years ago. She wouldn't be happy to hear the news down the copper's grapevine in a week's time!

Gill picked up the telephone and dialled through to Syndicate 3. Julie Dodson was not an easy woman to get hold of. She never appreciated her mobile phone ringing when she was on duty, unless it was pertinent to her current case. However, this meant that Gill had to ring the general office of Syndicate 3, and would probably spend 10 minutes of her precious life on the phone to a gormless uniform. "Hello, Manchester Metropolitan Police, Syndicate 3, this is Mark speaking, how may I help?" His voice sounded bored. Gill couldn't comprehend how many times the kid had probably said that same sentence in the past few weeks.

"Hi, DCI Gill Murray, Sydicate 9, I'd like to speak to DCI Julie Dodson if that's possible?"

"Of course ma'am, I'll put you through" Good, at least she wasn't in a meeting.

"Julie Dodson" It was the same voice. Full of authority.

Gill paused, not sure what to say. In the end, she went for her old favourite, "Hiya Slap", but it was nowhere near as enthusiastic as usual.

"I hope you've got a very good reason for ringing me, I was right in the middle of something VERY important" She was heading straight into the banter that Gill usually enjoyed. She obviously hadn't heard.

"Well..." Gill really didn't know how to say it. She couldn't really predict how her friend would react. She didn't like Kevin, and had made it her mission to see that he never got to tier 3 interview whilst he was under her command, after realising she didn't have enough grounds to remove him from MIT altogether. But nobody like to hear that someone they knew...had known...was dead.

"Do you really think I'm going to lower the tone of my joyful existence, waiting for you to get your words out?"

"Kevin's dead." Gill just blurted out. She couldn't think of any other way to stop Julie, and she knew she couldn't have her talking in this light-hearted, jokey way, when Gill had something so important to tell her.

"What?" Julie said, and Gill heard her laugh on the other end of the phone. Of course Julie would think she was joking, especially after the number of times Gill had moaned about wanting to murder Kevin. _"I'll get away with it, because I know how"_ she'd slurred to Julie one drunken evening. Julie had just laughed and bought her another drink.

There was a long pause.

"Gill?"

"I'm not..."

"Gill?" Julie said again. She'd stopped laughing, and her voice had adopted a very serious tone.

"He was killed last night."

"No." Julie seemed to be finding it hard to speak. "You're joking...no?"

"I thought someone might have informed you this morning" Gill said quietly.

"I'm coming over." Julie said quickly. And before Gill could say anything else, her friend had put the phone down.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"So, this is the only means of controlling the machinery?" asked Rachel as she stepped across the planks put down by the forensic department so as not to contaminate evidence. The CSIs had been carefully dusting the large control pad and lever for fingerprints, and DNA, and had already swept the floor area so they had deemed it safe for Rachel and Janet, along with a man from the yard, to enter, providing they only stepped on the planks.

"S'far as I know" said the tall, skinny-ish bloke by the name of Martin.

Rachel peered at the lettering above the control-pad.

"What is _**Peppa**_?" She asked

"Name of the provider I reckon"

"Is that important?" asked Janet, looking at Rachel and studying her facial expression. She never knew whether Rachel's questioning was fuelled by curiosity, or whether she believed her questions to be relevant to the investigation.

"No" said Rachel defensively. Obviously just one of her Sherlock moments, thought Janet as she peered round the control room. She looked at the door they had just walked through. It was small, but had a large keyhole, and, if locked, it looked sturdy.

"Is that door locked at night?" She asked, turning to Martin.

"Of course!" said Martin, almost as if Janet had asked a ridiculous question. "We couldn't have kids coming up here and messing about with the machinery, someone might get hurt..." His voice trailed off as he realised what he'd said. Rachel gave a scoffing sound, and raised her eyebrows at him. He was the one being stupid, not Janet.

Janet looked at him calmly and nodded her head. "Who has keys to that door?"

"Myself, Terry, and of course Gab...I mean, Miss Reynolds would"

"Do you have any idea when she'll be back?"

"She said around 11-ish" said Martin, looking down at his watch. Rachel glanced at the clock on the wall. '11.20'. Brilliant.

"So, nobody else has access to this control room other than the three people you have just mentioned?" Asked Janet, determined to get the facts off of him before he began to feel pressured by Rachel's killer glare.

"And what about CCTV?" Janet was looking around the room.

"Well..." began Martin, but he stopped as the sound of a car was heard from down below. The three of them looked out of the window to see a Blue Vauxhall Astra pull up just below the control room.

"That'll be the boss back" said Martin, sounding relieved.

"Right, well thank you Mr Greenwood." Said Janet, handing him her card "We'll need to get in touch with you again, but if you think of anything that might help us with our investigation, could you please give me, or one of my team a ring" The man nodded, taking the card from Janet and pocketing it in his scruffy jeans.

As they reached the car that had just pulled up, a woman in her late 30s, holding a small black pug dog, got out of it. She had long black hair tied back into a tight ponytail which had left the skin on her forehead looking taut. Instant botox, thought Rachel. The woman put the tiny pug down, and it scampered away out of site between the cars. As she straightened up, Rachel noticed that she was taking great care to subtly straighten both her tight black skirt, and her tight fitting white shirt, which were in danger of revealing a little too much of her.

"Miss Reynolds?" asked Janet expectantly. The woman nodded.

"My name is Detective Sergeant Janet Scott, and this is Detective Constable Rachel Bailey." Rachel wondered why she still felt funny when Janet said this. It made her feel inferior, but this was her best friend. Surely she wasn't jealous? "We're from the Manchester Metropolitan Police Major Incident Team. We're here about the incident..." More like tragedy. "...that occurred here last night. Are you the owner of this yard?"

"Technically my father is" said the woman, clearly disappointed. Had she been expecting someone else?

"Where is your father now?" asked Rachel bluntly. She was bored of waiting for the owner. She wanted to get on with catching the killer, and hopefully bringing justice for the young girl who had died here. Not to mention justice for Kevin...

The woman shot Rachel a hateful look. She hadn't appreciated her tone. "Hospital" she said curtly, "he has a lung condition" she was looking at Rachel pointedly as she said it, as if Rachel should feel very guilty. Rachel looked away.

Janet, wishing Rachel would leave the questioning to her, said "As you're already aware Miss Reynolds..."

"Gabby"

"As you're already aware, Gabby, a woman was found dead in one of the cars in this scrap yard last week. Whilst acting on intelligence given that there was further action going to be taken last night, you gave permission to the Manchester Metropolitan Police surveillance unit to keep tabs on this area over night" Gabby nodded, yawning as if Janet's story was most uninteresting to her. "As I assume you have been informed" continued Janet, ignoring her yawn "there was then another death, witnessed by one of my officers. We are, at present, identifying the body, but we believe it to be a Detective Constable from our own team. Therefore, this matter is being treated with the highest attention and urgency."

"I see" said the woman indignantly. "If it was just some poor sod off the street then you'd take your time. It's only because it's one of your own that you pay it _special attention_"

Janet smiled calmly. "That's not what I meant."

"What we're _trying_ to do..." said Rachel, ignoring a look from Janet which was trying to tell her not to speak. "...Is to establish, as quickly as possible, if these two events were actually connected, so we can then follow a suitable line of investigation."

Janet smiled to herself. That might have been the most tactful Rachel had been in a while. She tended to wade in, putting everyone's back up. Although, Miss Reynolds certainly didn't look happy.

"Is this going to affect my men, and their work?"

"The quicker we find out why these events took place" said Janet "the quicker you can resume day-to-day activity."

Gabby nodded, begrudgingly. "Fine. What do want to do?"

"We've already got CSI's in all the main areas. I'd like to take all of your CCTV from around the yard..."

"The main camera covering the yard was taken by you lot after last week. I didn't replace it." She interrupted.

"Surely we only took the tape?" asked Janet.

"Yes, but I didn't have another spare tape. I usually just wipe the one that's in there every time it's full."

Rachel rolled her eyes. No CCTV of the actual incident? That would make their life _so _much easier...

XxXxX

"How?" This was the first question Julie Dodson had asked Gill, as they sat in Gill's office with cups of luke warm tea.

Gill looked at her friend across the desk. She looked shaken.

"He was eaten" Why had she just said that? What was wrong with her? This was serious. Julie was now staring at her, really confused.

"Sorry" she tried again. "They were on surveillance last night at a scrap yard, following a tip-off related to the death of Holly Wainwright last week" Julie nodded in recognition of the case. "Apparently Kevin got in a car, one that was waiting for scrap. He squeezed in. God knows how he'd have got out again in a hurry" Julie nodded again slowly. Highly impractical. Yes, that was _very_ Kevin! "Anyway, a car broke through into the yard. There was a bit of commotion. Then the Auto-recycling machine just started working, it picked up the car Kevin had been hiding in and dropped it straight in, between the crushing cylinders. And..."

Julie shut her eyes as Gill's voice trailed off. She felt sick. Kevin was certainly not her favourite person, but _how_ had this happened?

"Surely your team has been given some leave? Surely you're not still investigating it?" Julie was thinking of the large whiteboard with Holly Wainwright's name in block capitals as she'd walked through the Syndicate 9 office.

Gill nodded slowly and looked at her friend. "I asked them this morning. They all refused to take any time off. They're passionate about solving this case!" She sighed. "They want justice. To get whichever calculated, evil human being did this to Holly. And...to Kevin. I spoke to the Chief Con this morning, and he agreed that we could continue with the original case for the time being, providing we reported any problems we had straight away"

"Is his death part of the investigation now?"

"We're still waiting on an official ID. Then there are all the proper channels this will go through. My team will be subject to questioning and a full investigation into his death will be carried out."

"I know" said Julie, nodding in reminder to Gill that she was aware of police procedure. Gill sniffed and Julie looked up. Her eyes looked tearful, and her mouth wobbled slightly.

Julie had never really been the 'emotional support' and 'sympathy' type. And with Gill she never usually needed to. Gill was a private person, and all her emotions stayed securely locked away around people. If Gill was upset, the only physical support Julie would be giving her was to help her walk after a very boozy night. Gill got drunk and moaned about her problems. Julie never usually saw her cry.

"Gill?" she said softly. Gill didn't seem able to look at her and Julie guessed she was trying very hard to keep her emotions intact. Julie's own throat was tight and she felt a similar wave of emotion travelling through her. Bloody Hell, she thought. I never thought I'd feel like crying over Kevin Lumb.

She made a decision in that moment and reached across the desk, taking hold of Gill's hand, with its beautifully polished red fingernails. She squeezed it slightly. Gill's fingers slowly wrapped themselves round Julie's hand and squeezed back. Neither of them looked at each other. Neither of them spoke. They sat there in silence. The distant buzz from the office outside, and the low hum of Gill's computer were the only sounds...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"So, how did it go this morning?" asked Gill. She had called a briefing meeting as soon as Rachel and Janet had arrived back from the scrap yard.

"We've got contact details from everyone who works on the site. CSI's have found any number of finger prints on the controls for the machinery. We know who was working at the yard on the day of both deaths. We're now just waiting on a full-forensic report." Gill nodded, turning to Rachel.

"We've also secured CCTV from the front of the yard, but were unable to get a view from inside as the tight-arsed bitch hadn't changed the film" she said, adding "mit-mop" under her breath.

"Marvellous" Gill breathed sarcastically. "What goes through some people's heads?"

"Anyway" continued Janet calmly "Nobody claims to know anything of last night's happenings or why it might have occurred"

Gill nodded again. "Right" she turned to Lee. "What about family, next of kin?"

"Holly grew up in care, but she had steady foster parents for 4 years until she was 16." The room went quiet. There was something about the idea that she had no parents to contact, which made everyone feel slightly guilty. "Anyway" Lee continued, "they've been informed, and also been assigned an FLO."

"Even though they were only foster parents?" asked Janet, surprised. Usually foster families were temporary. Even if Holly had been with them for 4 years, it was unusual for them to be assigned a family liaison officer after she'd been away from them for another 3."

"They seemed to have taken the news quite badly." Lee explained. "Apparently Holly stays in regular contact with them and often comes over for dinner. She was round there the night before she died"

"Was she?" Gill's had looked up, suddenly interested. "Can we check that there were no family rows that night then?"

Lee nodded "We're currently talking to everyone from her place of work as well, and we're in the middle of tracing all her phone contacts."

"Did she have a boyfriend?" asked Rachel

"Not that anyone knew of. It would appear she didn't have any close friends. She socialised with the girls from work every so often, and they knew nothing of any relationship."

"Ok" Gill nodded, now turning to Mitch. "Mitch, talk us through the forensic report from Holly's murder"

"Well" Mitch began. "Forensics has found a strand of unidentified hair on the victim's body. It's of a male, but we can't be sure whether this was transferred during the attack or before"

"But either way" Gill cut in "we need to trace its owner as they are probably either the last one to see her alive, or they know something about the attack"

Mitch nodded before continuing. "The marks on her body are consistent with her being dragged along the ground, suggesting that the attacker was not very strong. Possibly a..."

"Woman?" said Rachel, shooting them a look.

"Well, statistically women are weaker than men" said Pete

"Oi, I could lift a dead body!" The room turned to look at Rachel, including Gill, who rolled her eyes.

"Something you want to share with the group, Sherlock?"

"I was just saying..." Her voice trailed off as Gill raised her eyes sarcastically and turned back to Mitch. She was about to speak when Lee interrupted her, staring down at the forensic report which Mitch had placed on the table next to him.

"Did she have a dog?"

"What?" Gill snapped.

"There was dog hair found on the body, as well as human hair, Ma'am" he had added the last word for good measure.

"What type of dog?" asked Rachel, just as Gill was about to speak again.

"Look!" said Gill sharply, thoroughly frustrated now. "Is this really..."

"It was a black dog; small." Lee read from the report. "Forensics have identified that it was likely to be a pug, or something of similar breed."

"Is _anyone_ listening to me?" Gill was looking around the room, shocked. She was not used to not being in control.

"Jesus!" exclaimed Janet, looking at Rachel. Rachel was nodding her head excitedly, obviously thinking exactly the same.

"Gabby Reynolds!" they both said, in unison.

"RIGHT!" Gill was determined that the room should listen to her. She took a deep breath. The room had gone silent. They were all staring at her, their faces a picture of disgraces as though she were the headmistress, about to give them a lecture on _not speaking over the teacher_. "Would someone mind, if it's not too much trouble" she added sarcastically "filling me in on what the bloody hell you lot are talking about?"

"Well..." began Rachel, but Janet nudged her hard. Gill wanted the facts, not a Sherlock speculation story.

"The owner of the yard, Ms Gabby Reynolds" began Janet calmly. "We talked to her this morning, and she is the owner of a small, black pug dog."

Gill nodded slowly. Taking in what Janet just said. "So..."

"So she must have seen Holly on the day she died, and she must have been there when they moved the body!" said Rachel quickly, her eyes shining. Finally, were the getting somewhere?

"We can't make assumptions." Said Gill, and Rachel looked at her in surprise. Gill looked hard at Rachel. "We don't know that it's the same dog! And you're forgetting that the only piece of DNA found on the body, was from a male!"

"Yes but ma'am" said Rachel in frustration "How many people do you see around Oldham with a small black pug? Surely it's not a coincidence!"

"Fine" said Gill sighing. She turned to Janet, "You need to obtain a DNA sample from that dog, and I want this woman brought in for questioning under caution."

"But ma'am, she might not..."

"I can't arrest her!" said Gill, "What would I charge her with, owning a flat faced black rat?" She shook her head and looking at Rachel. Rachel looked down, she knew Gill was right

XxXxX

Outside the MIT building, Rachel drew sharply on her cigarette. It was a warm afternoon but she felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered the night before. How had it happened? Rachel had never gone into that yard thinking that she was taking part in a dangerous operation. There had been no sign of the driver who had broken down the barrier either. The car itself had turned out to be stolen, and was currently securely locked away whilst DNA and fingerprints were taken. Unless they were lucky, Rachel knew they probably wouldn't find the driver.

What bothered her was why it had happened. Who had they received a tip off from? Why had that car broken into the yard? How had the driver got away without any of the surrounding police catching a glimpse of their identity? Why had someone killed Holly? Was the stolen car related to this? Why had the machine started working? And why, why, WHY had it picked up that old car Kevin had been in?

Rachel sighed. She liked an investigation she could get her teeth into, but this one puzzled her. Something was going on...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Miss Reynolds" began Rachel. She looked at the woman closely. She sat there, a slight look of irritation on her face. Was she involved in Holly's murder? Was she involved in Kevin's...Rachel blinked hard and put on her most serious, and professional expression. "It is my duty to inform you that you have been brought in for questioning regarding the murder of Holly Wainwright. You are here under caution as we believe you may be able to help us with our enquiries. You are not under arrest, and are therefore free to leave at any time. If you feel uncomfortable or wish to take a break at any time, we can stop. This interview is being recorded and there is a possibility that the evidence may be used in court at a later date if you give us any information relevant to the investigation. You have indicated that you do not wish a solicitor to be present even though one was offered,iIs this still the case?" Gabby Reynolds nodded. "Miss Reynolds, I would appreciate it if you could give me a verbal answer for the benefit of the tape." She sighed as if Rachel had just asked something very demanding of her.

"No" She said sulkily.

"Excuse me?"

"No, I would not like a solicitor present" she was now glaring at Rachel.

"Thank you" said Rachel, not a single emotion in her voice. She could hear Pete scribbling notes behind her. I haven't said anything yet, she thought. I wonder what he's writing! No, focus! She looked straight into Miss Reynolds' eyes "Miss Reynolds...can I call you Gabby?"

"If you like"

"As you know Gabby, we are investigating the murder of 19 year old Holly Wainwright who was found dead in one of the cars in your scrap yard on the night of Thursday 21st. I believe one of your workers reported this too us in the early hours of Friday morning?"

"Yeah, Terry did"

"Did you know Holly Wainwright?" Rachel was staring into Gabby's eyes, which she noticed were almost black.

Gabby shook her head, and then remembered the tape. "No, I'd never met her"

"To your knowledge, were any of the men who worked for you acquainted with her?"

"No"

"So, why do you think she may have been dumped in your yard?"

Gabby shrugged. "Maybe they were hoping we wouldn't notice. Often we fire up Peppa without checking the cars. If Terry hadn't noticed her she'd have been crushed."

Rachel heard Pete give a swift intake of breath from behind her. She knew how he felt.

"What is Peppa, Gabby?"

"The machine" She gave a slight scoff "the lads call it _The Dinosaur_, but I know it as 'Peppa'. That's the word written above the control panel which I always used to read when Dad was showing me how to use it!" Rachel nodded, remembering the lettering.

"So, you know how to work the machine?"

"Of course" said Gabby as if Rachel had asked a ridiculous question. "I'm the boss, we got our first machine about 15 years ago! Dad taught me how to use it when he realised I was interested"

"If you don't mind me asking" said Rachel, her tone of voice indicating clearly that she was going to ask whether Gabby minded or not. "Why did you follow in your father's footsteps? I'd have thought growing up was your chance to escape. Why go into cars?"

Gabby shrugged again. "I wasn't the academic type and I couldn't find a job" she said simply. "Dad said I had potential and I worked a long side him. I got to know the lads. You must know what it's like" she looked at Rachel, who shook her head as if to ask what Gabby meant. "Female copper! It's still a man's world out there! You have to be tough"

Rachel gave a sarcastic smile. "I am" She thought she heard Pete let out a small snort behind her, and she resisted the urge to turn around and glare at him.

"Anyway, I got pretty good at the business side of things when Dad got ill. So when he couldn't cope anymore, I took over the company!"

Rachel gave one swift nod of her head. It was time to drop the personal stuff and move on to what they were there for. "Gabby, we noticed this morning that you got out of your car holding a small, black pug dog. Could you tell me who this dog belongs too?"

Gabby narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Could you just answer the question please?"

"It's my dog"

"And you are absolutely sure you have never had contact with Holly Wainwright?"

"Yes" Gabby was looking confused. Was this good acting skill? Or- Rachel didn't like to think this- had they got the wrong dog?

"Gabby, we have found evidence of black dog hair on the victim's body which we believe to belong to a black pug. I am obliged to ask you whether you can give me an explanation for this?"

Gabby was now looking rather worried, but what was this from fear, or because she knew something? "How do you know it's my dog?"

Rachel sighed. She'd hoped Gabby wouldn't ask that. "I'll be honest with you Gabby, we don't. This is why we would like to ask your permission to obtain a sample of your dogs DNA for testing."

"No" Gabby shook her head violently. "No, I won't allow it."

"Gabby, can I remind you that we have you here because we believe there was a chance that you are in some way involved in the murder of Holly Wainwright, and possibly the murder of a police officer. This would be a serious charge. We will continue to believe this unless we can rule your dog out with DNA. If you are innocent, surely you have nothing to worry about." Gabby glowered. "Might I _also _remind you that if there is any further evidence against you, and we are able to make an arrest, you are likely to be taken to court, where it will be made clear to the jury and judge that you were uncooperative, which may even lead to a charge of perverting the course of justice."

Gabby really did look worried now, but she was still glaring at Rachel. "How do I know you're not going to fit me up?"

Rachel sighed. That was such a common question. "Because, despite what you may have seen in Hollywood cop dramas, we're not in the habit of doing that, here at the Manchester Metropolitan Police Major Incident Team"

"Fine"

"You give your consent?"

"Yes"

"Thank you." She turned round and nodded at Pete, who got up, went to the door and nodded to someone outside, before coming back in and sitting down.

"What if it is my dog?"

"Then we will bring you back in for further questioning. Do you believe it is your dog?" Gabby looked down, clearly kicking herself that she had ever asked that question. Rachel looked at her closely. She couldn't read her body language at all. She seemed nervous to be in the station, but not worried enough. This made Rachel wonder if she was actually involved at all. She decided to continue her questioning to satisfy herself, despite hearing Pete close his notebook behind her, clearly ready to get going.

"Gabby, where were you on the evening of Thursday the 21st June?" Rachel heard Pete sigh behind her, and re-open his notebook.

"Why?"

"Just so we can eliminate you as well" Rachel said, giving her a small, false smile. She hadn't quite learned to add the warmth to her smile that Janet was so good at.

"I was out with a friend."

"Could this 'friend' confirm this?"

"Why?"

Rachel was starting to get impatient. "Like I said, so we can eliminate you as a suspect"

"Actually, I was visiting my dad."

"So you weren't out with a friend"

"No, I...I got confused, I was visiting my dad. He had a big operation that evening."

"So the hospital will confirm this?"

She'd gone red. "Yes"

"Ok" Rachel nodded once more. She would have to leave it there. "Thank you for your time Miss Reynolds. We'll be in touch about the DNA result, and if you think of anything relevant to our investigation then you already have our number."

XxXxX

"I'm pushing for the dog's DNA." Gill was sat on a desk opposite Rachel and Janet. It was nearly 6. . They'd squeezed a lot into the day. "It's arrived at the lab and I've promised Mr Mackay all sorts in the hope it won't take more than 24 hours!"

"She knows something" said Rachel. "She didn't want to give us the DNA, she lied to me about where she had been that night. I've checked with the hospital, she visited around 5-ish, before he went in for his operation. A nurse remembers her leaving soon after and she certainly didn't return.

"It's nearly enough for an arrest. If we could just get the dog's DNA. We'll bring her back in tomorrow and question her as to why she lied to us, see if we can scare something out of her. I've had Lee and Mitch go back to the yard. It seems that one of the men there, Martin, believes that he and our Miss Reynolds are having some sort of a relationship!"

"Really?" said Janet, she looked at Rachel who also had a rather surprised look on her face. They were both remembering the rather scruffy man who had shown them around that morning.

"Could she have been with him on the night of the murder then?" Asked Rachel

"No" said Gill shaking her head "He and a few of the other lads have alibis for that night. They were all out drinking in a local pub together, the landlord's confirmed it. The only two who weren't there were Miss Reynolds, and some lad called Barry who apparently isn't old enough!"

Rachel nodded, remembering the rather scrawny youth. "So, what are we going to do next?"

"Go home!" said Gill, and Rachel looked up at her, almost in horror.

"Boss, we've got to crack this!"

"In the morning, yes. We've barely had any sleep in the past 48 hours. Even your ultra clever brain will not be functioning much longer without any rest. I've already sent the lads home!"

Rachel got up from her desk, banging her chair back in frustration.

"Eh." She looked at Gill. "We will get them kid!" Rachel nodded, looking at the floor.

"Night Rach" said Janet quietly standing up as well. Rachel didn't even wiggle her finger at her, she gave them a half-hearted smile, and whispering "night", grabbing her bag, and walking out of the office.

Gill sighed and leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling.

"Are you alright?" Asked Janet gently, sitting on the desk opposite her.

Gill slowly brought her head back down and looked at her. "Are you?" She said back.

Janet gave a small smile, closed her eyes and nodded her head.

Gill looked at her. "It wasn't your fault cock."

"Really?" Janet said, her voice almost breaking as she opened her eyes, which had slowly filled with tears, and looked at Gill.

"How could you predict that something like that was going to happen?"

"I should have gone in. Instead I sent Kev and Rach in to do my dirty work. They both could be...Rach could be..." she was shaking her head "What sort of Sergeant does that make me?" Janet's voice was still calm but it was bitter, and broke in places as she spoke, as if she were trying to hold back her tears.

"You didn't know that was going to happen, how could you? You didn't tell Kevin to get into that car." Gill's voice was soft.

"He's dead Gill" she whispered. Gill could feel her own emotions rising up in her throat. "He's gone, and it's _my _fault." She bowed her head.

Gill got up off the desk and walked slowly over to Janet. She put her forefinger under Janet's chin and lifted it up so Janet was looking at her. The tears dribbled down her cheeks and Gill felt her own eyes well up; there was nothing she could do to stop them.

"None of this was your fault kid. We're going to find out who did this. Ok?" Janet nodded, and gave a sniff. Gill considered just squeezing her chin and saying 'goodnight', but before she knew what she was doing she had pulled Janet towards her, and was holding her tight...


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - **This isn't a particularly long chapter, but Gill and Julie's evening is cut short when Gill receives a phone call!**

_Right_, thought Gill as she sat on a bar stool with her beautifully painted deep red nails curled around her glass of wine that evening_, I'm NOT going to cry at ANY point during this evening. We're just going to have a nice night out_. She looked down at her glass of wine, she hadn't touched a drop, what was _wrong _with her? Gill was the first person to 'get pissed' to forget her problems, even though, from experience she had learned that waking up the next morning feeling like someone had poured superglue through her head then set fire to it was not at all effective, as the problem was still there, and now she was having to deal with a monster headache, on top of her original problem!

She looked across the room and saw her friend coming towards her. She had obviously changed after work, which was something Gill hadn't really managed, she'd simply thrown on the spare white laced shirt she kept in her bag, and slung her black blazer back on. As Julie reached the bar, her scarlet heels making the familiar clip-clop on the tiled floor, she smiled at Gill, but her smile was nowhere near as warm as it usually was, and the cheeky glint had gone from her dark brown eyes.

Gill was about to open her mouth for her usual greeting of 'Hiya Slap', but Julie spoke first.

"You've got your drink I see! Where's mine?" She tried to keep her voice light and jokey, but it came out quite wooden and Gill looked surprised. Julie tried to smile again; she sat next to Gill on one of the faux leather black stools, and leaned her elbows on the bar.

"Are you alright?" Gill couldn't disguise the tone of surprise in her voice. She hadn't expected Julie to be so effected by this.

"Fine"

"Wrong answer!" Gill gave her a small, half-smile and Julie looked at her.

"Ok" Julie sighed "I can't get my head around it!"

"I know." Gill took hold of her wine glass again, but she didn't want it, _why _didn't she want to drink. She almost felt like it was a betrayal to Kevin if she flushed him out of her mind for an evening. Julie obviously felt the same way, as one of the bar staff hovered nearby, expecting Julie to order a drink, but Julie pointedly ignored him and he soon went away. Gill pushed her glass towards Julie, who looked down at it, shocked.

"What have you done" she said weakly "laced it with poison?"

Gill gave another small smile, although she could see Julie was regretting the mention of poison, due to its connotations of death.

"How's the investigation going?" said Julie, realising that their meet-up was going to be less than successful if their conversation only consisted of a few whispered words.

"Alright" Gill was glad she had something she could talk about. "We questioned the yard owner today, the stupid bitch may well have killed the girl then left her dogs hairs at the scene"

"Why would she have killed her?"

"Dunno" said Gill, she hadn't really thought of this. "Maybe she'd stolen her lover or something"

"Wasn't Holly Wainwright young?"

"Yes, she was 19"

"And surely this yard owner woman is mid-life?"

"She's mid thirties" Julie looked surprised and Gill nodded. "I know, strange job for someone like that to have. Apparently the father's in hospital and the daughter's left running the business."

"Must be tough on her own! Maybe she's doing something else on the side?"

"We've found no evidence of that. The most we've found so far is that she is possibly shagging one of the low-life dickheads who works for her"

Julie smiled, and this time it was genuine, she loved to hear the passion in Gill's voice when she described a case.

"You've got a high opinion of these people!" she said sarcastically.

"According to Janet and Rachel they're _unintelligent, unattractive, and highly unhelpful_."

"That doesn't make them criminals!"

"It doesn't make them upstanding members of society either"

"You can't judge a book by its cover" said Julie, shaking her head at Gill in a mockingly patronising way. "I mean" she added cheekily "look at you"

"Oi!" said Gill, but she couldn't help smiling. "Speak for yourself you fat-arsed bitch"

Julie laughed "Oh Well, it's nice to see you being _rarely_ successful with a case I suppose"

"Hey, wind your neck in lady. Me S.I.O, You gooseberry"

Julie now had a big smile across her face. However, this quickly vanished as a large group of girls, obviously on a hen night, crowded round the bar, chatting loudly.

"Do you want to go and sit over there?" Mouthed Julie, jerking her head to a table in the far corner of the room. Gill nodded, grabbed her drink and they both walked quickly over to the table to get away from the noise.

As Gill sat down she winced and took off her black patent high heel.

"Stone in my shoe" she muttered, shaking it onto the floor.

As Gill stretched her leg out, Julie noticed that her big toe was a dark bluey-green colour. She stared at it, alarmed. "What in God's name have you done to your foot?"

"What?" Gill looked down and saw what Julie meant; she had got used to the pain and had completely forgotten about it until then. "Oh" she let out a small giggle "Kevin pushed his chair back onto my foot, and..." her voice trailed off. Julie looked down at the floor as Gill shook her head.

"Oh bugger" she said sniffing, and Julie looked at her. Gill's eyes had already filled up with tears.

"You know what?" said Julie, her voice was a bit wobbly. "I thought he was bloody useless on my team, but..."

"but?" said Gill gently. She'd never heard Julie say anything remotely flattering about Kevin.

"But" she sighed "I actually think..." Julie was swiftly cut off by the sound of Gill's phone ringing loudly in her blazer pocket.

"Sorry" Gill said shaking her head. She scrabbled around in her pocket and pulled out her phone. She glanced at the screen then accepted the call.

"Gill Murray" Julie watched Gill's face. She had her default phone face on. The face she had when she was listening intently. Slowly, however, her expression began to change, her eyes grew wider and her mouth fell open, a look of utter shock had covered every defined feature on her face. She seemed to be having trouble speaking. She shut her mouth again, but it soon fell open. If this had been different circumstances Julie might have laughed. She'd have told Gill she looked like a sex-starved goldfish. But this didn't look like a laughing matter.

Gill's breathing became quick, and she cleared her throat, desperately trying to get her words out.

"W-what?" She stammered. She took a few deep breaths as if composing herself. "Sorry" she continued, her voice sounded calmer and stronger. "Could you say that again?"

She listened again intently, and then she muttered her thanks and brought the phone slowly away from her ear.

"What is it?" said Julie urgently, very concerned.

"Shit" said Gill under her breath. Then she raised her eyes so she was looking straight at Julie. She had the strangest expression on her face and seemed to be in a state of shock. "SHIT"**...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- The twist is revealed:**

"For God sake love!" Julie felt like hitting her. Gill was still giving her friend her best goldfish impression.

"K..." Gill was shaking her head and Julie looked at her, shocked and worried. She'd never known Gill speechless. She couldn't help thinking that if the circumstances were different she may well have taken a picture.

"He's not..."

"Spit it out!"

"It's not..."

"GILL"

Gill blinked hard and breathed something that sounded like "snot evens doddy"

"What was that?" Julie was now slightly concerned that Gill might have finally been driven loopy.

Gill took a deep breath and looked Julie straight in the eye. "It's not Kevin's body."

"Wha..." Julie seemed to have joined the goldfish club. "How?"

"The ID from the police database has come through. It's not a match for the sample we have down for Kevin." Gill stood up, grabbing her phone from the table. "I've got to go."

"I'll drive you?"

"You've got your car?" Gill was surprised despite everything. Julie and Gill always made a pact that they got a taxi everywhere on their night out, so that the temptation for drink driving was not even present.

"I knew I wouldn't be drinking" Julie sounded embarrassed. Gill still looked surprised, but then remembered why she had got up. She made her way towards the door, closely followed by Julie.

XxXxX

"Jan, what the hell is this about?" Rachel had pulled her car up next to Janet's. The second Janet had seen her she'd got out of her car, and Rachel had done the same. They had both received an urgent phone call from Gill saying _"meet me at the station ASAP"_. It was close to midnight. Rachel had only just got home having stopped off at Sean's to fill him in. He had been gutted. He liked Kevin. Meanwhile, Janet had been listening to her mum go on about how nice the man at the local supermarket was, and how he'd invited her to go Line Dancing with him. Janet had thought her mum had been making it up, but as she went to say goodnight to the girls, they had each told her a similar tale, albeit adding their own teen-dream twist. So, by the time Janet had got back downstairs, she was imagining Dorothy as some damsel in distress, saved by a gallant knight in her time of peril. When, in actual fact she'd just asked him where the frozen peas were, and he'd apparently _'bent over backwards to be helpful'_. Janet had been making herself some dinner when Gill had phoned.

Janet shook her head. "No idea, I didn't know she'd called you as well! She just said to meet her here, and to come as quickly as possible"

Rachel shrugged "that's what she said to me." She had been glad of the phone call. She hadn't looked forward to going home alone, despite her efforts to deter Sean from coming back with her. She just wanted to get on with catching the killer.

Just then, a car pulled up, and Rachel recognised DCI Julie Dodson in the driver's seat. Gill hopped out from the passenger side and walked quickly over to them.

"Gill, what's going on?" Janet saw the urgent look on her boss' face.

"I got a phone call" Gill sounded slightly breathless.

"From?" said Rachel, impatiently.

"The lab. They've tested the DNA from what's left of the body pulled from the machinery." She paused, and looked between Rachel and Janet, who were both wearing impatient expressions. She took a deep breath. "It wasn't Kevin's."

Janet's eyes widened to the size of an owl, and Rachel let out her breath in one swift motion, making a very strange noise as she did so. She clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Then..."The goldfish motion was definitely catching. "Then who...?"

"They don't know!" Gill looked at Rachel as she spoke. The girl seemed to be in state of mild shock, it reminded her of when Janet had got stabbed, Rachel had just stood there, shaking and babbling. It was the only time Gill had seen Rachel so vulnerable.

"Are you alright kid?" she asked softly

"W-Wha..." Gill couldn't help smiling inwardly to herself. Rachel's reaction was almost identical to her own. She looked across at Janet, who looked surprised, but calm.

"So what's going to happen now?" She asked

"Well, we've got a major search going on." Said Gill, pleased that Janet was thinking rationally. "I'll probably have to meet with the Chief Con in the morning, and we've now got a full scale house to house of the local area"

"So Kevin might not be..." Rachel's voice sounded weak, and both Janet and Gill looked at her, concerned.

"Boss, shouldn't we go inside?" Janet suggested, making signals to Gill with her eyes to show her that she thought Rachel needed to sit down.

Gill nodded and they all headed inside, Janet in the lead. As Gill held the door open for Rachel, allowing her to go in ahead of her, she gave Rachel's arm a quick squeeze. "We're going to find him." She whispered, and Rachel gave her a small smile.

XxXxX

"Right" said Gill addressing Janet and Rachel. She was used to working through the night on an important case, and she was determined that she would see her team through this. She had decided not to call the men in until later in the morning. She knew it was wise to put aside a couple of people who'd actually had some sleep! Gill had demanded that Julie go home and rest. She knew she had her own case to be working on. Julie had been reluctant, but Gill had promised to keep her in the loop if anything of interest arose.

"I want your thinking caps on ladies" Gill continued. What have we missed? We're running the DNA through the rest of the police DNA database to see if the dead person was known to us, otherwise our top priority is tracing who this person is. It might lead us to the killer. It might also lead us to Kevin." She looked at Rachel who was listening intently, a look of determination on her face. "The first thing I want you to do is check missing persons from around this area in the last couple of days." She paused, and looked between the ladies. "We're going to find both the killer, and Kevin. Ok?"  
"Ok" said they said in unison, and Gill smiled. She felt like a dictator, leading the revolution. She had the power!

XxXxX

"Ma'am?" Rachel had knocked on Gill's door, looking excited. It was nearly 2am and Gill had been carefully constructing an email to Mr Rutterford for the past half an hour. She needed it to get to him before morning, and she hoped it would be at the top of his inbox. She had already discarded a few failed attempts which were either too vague, or too smarmy.

She'd got distracted when the lab phoned. She was surprised at their level of dedication to the case, but she assumed that a certain amount of pressure had been put on them, due to the risk for a detective constable's life. However, the DNA had flagged up no matches on the PDD. Gill hadn't been happy with this. She had thanked the lab half-heartedly, despite their promise to prioritise the dog's DNA for her. It would have made everything easier if they could have quickly identified the body.

"Yes?" She looked up from her computer screen.

"I think I've found a likely candidate" Rachel gabbled. "Richard Brent. 21. His mother reported him missing on Sunday night after he didn't come home for his dinner on Saturday 23rd. She's thought he'd been staying with a friend on Saturday night, but when he didn't come home Sunday evening she rung around his friends and tried his mobile. Apparently one of his work colleagues was supposed to be meeting him on Sunday, but he didn't show up. It was at this point that she called three 9s."

Gill took her glasses off her nose and looked at Rachel. "What's the connection?"

"Reynolds' Scrap federation do car repairs as well as scrapping old cars"

"And?"

"The company Richard works for provides car parts for the yard. I checked it out. They're the business' main suppliers, and it looks like Miss Reynolds is trying to buy them out. The paperwork was all checked the other day as part of the company background. And, the company has been in trouble before for dodgy dealings!"

"What sort of dealings?"

"They were accused last year of flogging stolen car parts, but for some reason it couldn't be proved. Obviously, many companies lost trust in them, which has lead to them heading into financial trouble. Reynolds' are their only regular customers, and now they're trying to buy them out!"

Gill was shaking her head. "That's a rather weak link"

"Yes" said Rachel, equally as frustrated "But it's still a link, ma'am." She mustn't forget to be polite. If she annoyed Gill then that was it.

"So, what are you saying? The company wouldn't sell up to Miss Reynolds, so in a fit of rage she murders their youngest employee. Stopping only to let her dog flounce all over the crime scene?"

Rachel looked down. She knew there must be something in it, but she also knew that it wasn't clear how it fitted with the murders. "No ma'am" she muttered.

Gill saw how disheartened Rachel looked and she couldn't help feeling slightly guilty. "It's something we can follow up" she said, and she saw Rachel's face light up.

"Yes ma'am"

"Now" Gill sighed. "We need to get a sample of Richard's DNA. Or failing that I need the mother's. Can you ring up the mother? I know it's unorthodox but I want you and Janet to get round there now. I'm sure if she's that concerned about her son then she won't mind a rather early wake up call. If she'd game I want that dropped off at the lab. I'll ring them to let them know what to expect, and I hope they'll have found a match for the dog's DNA before you get there"

"Ma'am" Rachel repeated again, giving a swift nod of her head in recognition as she said it. She was excited. It may turn out to be nothing. A wild goose chase. It often was, but at the moment it was something, and it was all they'd got. It was the only chance they had of saving Kevin...


	9. Chapter 9

"Have you found him?" Mrs Brent had opened the door to Rachel and Janet looking desperate. Rachel had been very vague on the phone, but Mrs Brent had been all too happy to let them come to her home, despite it being stupid o'clock in the morning.

"Mrs Brent, may we come in?" Asked Janet calmly, and the woman gave a small nod. There were tears in her eyes and she looked a bit shaky.

Janet and Rachel followed her into the living room and sat down on a sofa they were directed to.

"Mrs Brent, you reported your son Richard missing on the Sunday 24th June. Is that correct?" Janet began

Mrs Brent gave a small nod. "Have you found my Ricky?"

"We know that your son worked for a small scrap metal firm that provided car parts for Reynolds' Scrap yard."

"Horrible company." She muttered

"Which one?" Asked Rachel curiously.

"Both" Mrs Brent whispered. "My Ricky wasn't happy working for David, he always said he wanted out, but times are hard and he couldn't get another job"

"Sorry, David Who?" Rachel asked.

"Bond" Mrs Brent was now fighting back tears as she looked up at Janet, who was sitting closest. "He was no good for my Ricky but he had no choice. His father walked out on us 9 months ago. I've got very little income and Ricky worked for the firm to pay the bills. He was a good lad but..."

"But?'" Rachel ignored a look from Janet. They were supposed to be collecting a DNA sample, not interviewing her.

"That firm was no good, and neither is that other one." Mrs Brent sounded quite fierce.

"Reynolds'?" Rachel pushed and the woman nodded again.

"He told me, on Thursday night. He said the company were doing some dodgy deals." She paused and gave a sob. "He was terrified."

Of what Mrs Brent?" Even Janet had begun to look interested now, and she had decided to let Rachel continue her questioning.

"I don't know" She was shaking her head violently now and her voice kept cracking. "He told me he wanted out. Said he wasn't going back there. He said it was corrupt. They were all bad people and he never wanted to see any of them again. I'd never seen him so upset."

"But did he say why?"

"No. He just said he couldn't work for people who could see these bad things happen. He stayed in the house on Friday. The phone kept ringing but he told me not to answer it. Then I heard him on his mobile and on Saturday morning he said he was going out to meet a friend. When he didn't come back I thought he'd stayed round somebody's house. Then, when he still wasn't there on Sunday I tried all his friends' numbers. They all said they hadn't seen him in weeks. I tried ringing his mobile, he ALWAYS answers it" She added the last bit with extra emphasis, looking straight at Rachel, who tried to put on her most sympathetic expression. "But he never answered. So I reported him missing. He would never leave without telling me where he was going. Something's happened to him hasn't it? Is that why you're here?"

As she spoke Janet's phone rang. It was Gill. "Sorry, Rach can you take this?"

Rachel took the phone from Janet, excused herself and walked to the door of the sitting room answering "hello"

"Mrs Brent" said Janet calmly, "A body was found yesterday morning at Reynolds' Scrap Yard. We have no identification for this body yet, but we have reason to believe it may be your son, due to his connection with the yard."

Mrs Brent let out a choking sound. "They've killed him. They've killed my Ricky"

Rachel was trying to hear what Gill was saying. "Rachel, I've just had a call from the lab. The DNA found on the body of the dead bloke matches the hair found on Holly Wainwright's body! Are you still at the mother's?"

"Yes" Janet heard Rachel say, "Yes I'll ask. Ok thanks, bye" She put the phone down, walked back to the sofa, and handed the phone back to Janet as she sat back down.

"Mrs Brent, did your son know a girl called Holly Wainwright?" she asked.

"Yes" Mrs Brent stammered. "He was mad about her. Nice girl. She was good for him!" She looked up at them. "Why? Has she got something to do with it?"

"Do you not read the papers Mrs Brent?" Rachel couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice.

"No. I cancelled my subscription. I'm a bit out of touch with the world"

"Mrs Brent, Holly Wainwright was killed last Thursday" Said Janet gently

"Wha... No." Mrs Brent stared at Janet in horror.

"She was found dead at Reynolds' Scrap Yard by a worker on Friday morning."

"But...How?" This was clearly news to Mrs Brent.

"She can't be? Ricky would've said something. Unless...Oh god" She looked from Janet to Rachel, her face crumpling in horror. "You don't think he had anything to do with it..do you? Is that why you're here? To accuse my Ricky!" Her voice was getting louder.

"Mrs Brent I assure you we've only just made the connection" Said Rachel, trying to keep her voice steady. She didn't like it when the victim's family went off on one. "We'd like to take a sample of your own DNA so that we can ensure that it is Ricky we are talking about. We also wondered if you had anything with your son's DNA on, like a hairbrush?"

The woman nodded. "I've probably got his razor or something"

Janet smiled. "I'm sure that'll be fine. We only need it if your DNA proves inconclusive."

"Do you want a blood sample?"

"No, we just need to swab the inside of your mouth!"

Mrs Brent nodded again then seemed to think of something. "Can I see him. Then I could tell you if its my Ricky?"

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, he sustained some rather major injuries" Janet had tried to be as tactful as possible without going into details

"H-how did he die?" She stammered

"Let's just make sure it's your son we're talking about first Mrs Brent" Janet looked at Rachel. Neither of them wanted to be the one to tell her that her son had been effectively eaten by a dinosaur.

XxXxX

"Did you drop the samples off at the lab?" asked Gill as Janet and Rachel got in. It was now nearly 5am.

"Just done it" said Janet.

Gill turned to Rachel "And did you ask her about Holly?"

"Apparently she and Ricky Brent were an item! Mrs Brent had no idea that Holly was dead, but Ricky had come home on Thursday night claiming that the company he worked for were doing dodgy deals with Reynolds. She'd never seen him so frightened. I think it would also be worth checking out the man he works for, 'David Bond'"

Gill nodded. "The plot thickens" her eyes shining. She loved it when they started to get somewhere with a case. "So are we assuming that he knew of Holly's death, and that's why he was killed?"

"Looks that way" said Rachel "Also, he apparently had a phone call on Saturday night, and went out to meet a friend on Sunday. Seems a bit of a coincidence to me"

"So we need to find out who he was meeting on the day he was killed. We need his phone!" said Gill narrowing her eyes. Rachel nodded. "Ok, we'll get a search going for that then"

"Have we missed anything?" Asked Janet

"I've just been reading last night's evening news" Gill sat down on one of the desks, and Rachel and Janet perched on the one opposite. "Apparently the head of one of Holly's old children's homes has kindly given the vultures her side of the story"

"In other words she's sold her story of a dead girl that she probably hadn't thought once about until she saw her name in the paper." Said Rachel, sounding disgusted, and Gill nodded her head. She reached behind her onto the desk and picked up a newspaper.

"Mrs Hounslow, 53, told of her shock that such a lovely young girl should be snatched so unfairly from the world" Gill read out sarcastically. "Mrs Hounslow has been a care worker at Greenwood Children's home in Chadderton for the past 20 years and remembers Holly as a polite and caring young girl who was a friend to everybody"

"Why is it..." Said Rachel "...That people who die always come out smelling of roses? Nobody ever says..." she put on a silly voice "she was an unbearable little brat who annoyed everybody she came into contact with. Everybody hated her and knowing her was the worst insult to my existence"

Gill couldn't help giving a small smile. Rachel was right of course. People always seemed to exaggerate the excellence of dead people, especially the family and friends.

The three women were distracted by the phone in Gill's office beginning to ring. She ran to answer it.

"Gill Murray?" They heard her say. "Yes. Really? Yes, thank you, thank you very much!" Rachel couldn't help thinking that this wasn't a very good Elvis impression...

"That was the lab!" said Gill as she came back out to where they were still seated. "Positive ID for Ricky Brent. DNA sample given by the mother is consistence with the DNA found with the remainders of the body. Also, results from the dog hair. We've got a match, it was definitely Gabby Reynolds' dog!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Rachel. "Surely that's enough to charge her?"

"But Gill, that dog wanders around the yard all the time" said Janet "its hair could easily be on the ground. If Holly's body was dragged along the ground inside the yard then..."

"Then it could have been transferred onto her clothing" Gill sighed.

"Oh come on" said Rachel, frustrated. "It can't be a coincidence!"

"It's circumstantial evidence, she'd wriggle off." Said Janet

"It gives us enough to warrant an arrest though! On top of the fact that she lied about where she was!" Gill had got up off the desk and looked at Janet. "Can we draft an op order by the morning?"

"Sure" the second the lads get in I'll send two of them over to pick her up!"

XxXxX

"Ma'am there's a woman here asking to speak to one of your officers." Gill heard the voice of the receptionist from downstairs on the other end of the phone. She was now feeling rather sleepy.

"Who?"

"A Miss Gabriella Reynolds Ma'am"

Gill looked up in surprise, suddenly feeling much more awake. "Janet" she shouted, leaning away from the phone as she did so. She put the phone back to her ear. "Thanks, I'll send someone down" Janet came running in.

"Boss?"

"Gabby Reynolds is downstairs"

Janet looked at Gill in surprise. "What?"

"I know." Gill shrugged. "Would you go down and talk to her; see what she wants?"

"Sure" said Janet, still a little put out. Pete, Mitch, and Lee were due in at any moment. They were going to be bringing her in for questioning. Neither Gill nor Janet had imagined she'd walk so willingly into their midst.

As Janet entered the reception area Gabby Reynolds stood up from the blue soft chair she had perched herself on. She looked dreadful. The smart clothes, and the carefully done make-up and hair from the day before had clearly been way down on her priority list that morning. She was wearing a pair of jeans. Her hair was loose and hung round her shoulders, limp and unwashed. Her eyes looked tired but there was a definite look of fear and urgency on her face.

"Miss Reynolds..." Janet began, but before she could say anything more, Gabby Reynolds had walked up to her and was standing about a foot away. Her eyes looked wild now.

"I did it."

"I'm sorry?" Janet took one step away from her, uncomfortable with the closeness and concerned about the woman's mental state.

"I..." She was shaking. "I killed her. It was me." She paused, and looked Janet right in the eyes. "I did it!" ...


	10. Chapter 10

_**Sorry, this chapter is ALL procedure, but quite necessary to the story!**_

"So, Miss Reynolds, let me get this straight..." said Rachel after she'd gone through the endless procedure of listing the woman's rights and explaining about the tape and the details of her arrest. This time Gabby Reynolds had a solicitor present. He wasn't looking to happy. This almost made Rachel smile. Solicitors were never happy when their client so freely confessed to murder. "...You are admitting to the murders of both Holly Wainwright, and Ricky Brent" Gabby looked up, for a moment a look of shock crossed her face and Rachel thought she saw her lips move, as if she were mouthing his name. Then, she seemed to compose herself.

She nodded. "Yes"

"Something's not right about this." Gill had just walked into the video room with Janet, where Mitch and Lee were watching the screen intently. "What's her motive?"

"She just keeps saying that she did it, every time Rachel tried to talk" said Mitch sighing "Rach keeps asking her _why?_ She doesn't seem to be able to give her an answer.

"If she didn't do it then why is she confessing?" Gill was shaking her head. She didn't understand some people. If they had gone to arrest Gabby and she'd resisted then Gill would have believed that she was the killer. But it was the way she had so willingly given herself up. _Why_? And why _now? _She turned back to the screen where she could see the black and white image of Gabby looking rather desperate.

"It was an accident, she fell, banged her head!" Gabby said, she didn't sound very convincing.

"Why was she in the yard?"

"I don't know...maybe she was meeting someone" Gabby was shaking her head. "I called out to her about trespassing and she turned to run, she slipped and banged her head. I panicked! I thought I'd be sued. I didn't know what to do?"

"So she thought the headline '_Suspicious death in local scrap yard' _was better for business than '_accidental death of trespasser at local yard'_?" Gill was shaking her head, completely baffled. "What was she thinking?"

"Boss, she didn't bang her head on the ground. She was hit with something!" Janet reminded her.

"I know" said Gill staring hard at the screen, where Rachel was looking just as bewildered. "It just isn't making sense." She watched Gabby's solicitor leaning in towards her, evidently advising her to stop talking until she'd worked out a story with him.

"Right, get Rachel and Pete out of there" said Gill, waving her hand in the direction of the screen. "I want my whole team on this. Let her stew for a while, she's confessed to murder, she isn't going anywhere!"

XxXxX

"They've got something on CCTV" said Janet swinging her head round the office door- Gill couldn't help thinking that this was exactly what Andy used to do-, she hadn't bothered to knock, but this didn't seem necessary as Gill's door had been wide open.

"What?" asked Gill, taking her glasses off of her nose. The Chief con had personally replied to her email but had put off a meeting, simply adding quite patronisingly that _'he was sure Gill was taking all the necessary and appropriate action to track DC Lumb down'_

"It was actually Rachel who spotted it"

"Yes Janet, thank you, brownie points will be awarded, when you tell me _what_?" Gill didn't like being horribly sarcastic to Janet, but she disliked being kept waiting.

"On the CCTV from the day Holly was killed, a lorry backs into one of the metal posts which holds up the barrier to the scrap yard. It knocked the metal post out of the ground and knocked a part of the surrounding fence down with it."

"So?" said Gill shaking her head. "Why is this odd?"

"It's not, in itself" said Janet; her head was bobbing from side to side as she went from point to point. "But for a few days there wasn't a post there so the barrier couldn't be closed properly. Then, on Sunday night before we got there, the metal post was replaced, and the fencing repaired, because nobody works there on a Sunday!"

"And?" Gill wished Janet would get to the point.

"And" said Janet, putting a great deal of stress on the word to show Gill that she was definitely going somewhere with this. "When the stolen car comes into shot it doesn't look like it was expecting there to be a barrier! It looks like it was expecting to swing into the yard, but the barrier takes the driver by surprise, which is why the car seemed to be out of control."

"So..." Gill was nodding her head, she saw what Janet was trying to say.

"So" continued Janet "this suggests that the driver was somebody who had been to the yard since the barrier was also explains why the killer could now slip out without being caught on CCTV as the broken fence meant they could stay out of the way of the CCTV, IF they knew it was there!"

"Which points to someone who works at the yard"

"But, it surely wasn't Gabby as she must've given the order for it to be fixed. If she was planning on driving a car through it then she wouldn't have bothered. And..."

"And anyway" Gill pointed out, she'd never thought of this before "Gabby knew we were going to be there. Why would she dump a body there if she knew we were going to come sniffing around?"

"Unless" said Janet, thoughtfully. "Unless she panicked? If she didn't have time to move the body then she would've tried to dispose of it the only way she could think of. But also..."

"Are we assuming that the person who drove the car into the yard was the same one operating the machinery?" Gill cut in.

"It looks that way" said Janet. "Pete and Lee checked out the yard and there is a direct pathway behind all of the cars, from where the driver must have got out of the stolen car, directly to the control room entrance. But boss..."

"Which again suggests that it's someone who knows the yard well!" said Gill, her eyes were now shining. "And is there no indication about the driver from the CCTV on the outside of the yard?"

"Completely pitch black in the driving seat, however you enhance it. The lighting was dreadful. But..."

"Why do people never..."

"Boss!" Janet hadn't intended to say it so loudly, but she was desperate to continue.

Gill was quite taken aback, and she couldn't help being slightly amused. Andy had never usually dared to interrupt her. She hoped Janet wouldn't make a habit of it however. "Sorry, what?"

"Holly was hit over the head with a blunt object."

"Yes?"

"Well, it's just a thought" she paused "Actually, it's a one of Rach's again" Gill smiled to herself, typical Sherlock! "We never found a murder weapon, and we also never found the metal post that the lorry knocked out."

"You think that's the murder weapon?" Gill raised her eyebrows, considering it. "Is it not still in shot from the CCTV?"

Janet shook her head" The lorry knocked it out of the ground and out of the range of the camera. Lee just had a word with a couple of the lads from the yard- the ones with alibis" she added quickly. "and one of them said that they were sure they'd noticed it when they went home on Thursday evening, because apparently he was going to take it to prop up something in his garage" Gill frowned and Janet shook her head with a sympathetically confused expression "I know, I haven't got a clue what he meant. I mean, the thing is hollow! Anyway, when he got there on Friday morning it was gone and he assumed Gabby had moved it."

"Maybe she did"

"Well that's something Rachel can ask her. She's gone back in with her now. But the thing is, if we're not sure that Gabby did do it; and so far she can't give us means or motive, then I don't want to suggest a possible murder weapon or she'll lap it up"

"True" said Gill sighing. "Ok, well I want that metal post searched for in all the surrounding places it could've been dumped. And..." Gill smiled "keep up the good work cock!"

"Yes Ma'am" said Janet smiling back at Gill before turning around and walking out of the office.

Gill leaned back on her chair, watching Janet pass the window of her office opposite as she so often did. _I_ _wonder if we'll ever find it,_ Gill thought to herself. _The chances are minute, and even then it could take days. We haven't really got enough time. We need something now, right now._

"Ma'am" Janet had returned and was knocking on the door.

"Yes?" Gill turned to face her, a little surprised.

"A metal post was found dumped on the River just off of Deansgate by an environmentalist who was doing some study on wildlife by the river." Janet shook her head, she didn't really understand some people. Clearly Gill felt the same. "Anyway, apparently she noticed some dried blood on the end of it and took it in to the local police station at around 2 O' Clock this morning." Gill looked bemused. "Maybe the environment is more appropriate for analysis at that time?" Janet said, shrugging. Gill scoffed. "Anyway" Janet continued "It looks like it was only dumped there recently as the mud by the river hasn't dissolved the dried blood at all. God knows how this person knew it was blood, but thank heavens they did. It's been tested and a match for Holly Wainwright has been made, which is why we've just been informed." Gill was staring at Janet in disbelief. When was it _ever_ that easy?

"So, I was about to send every uniform in the district out looking for a murder weapon...and it was found by a tree hugger feeding their bizarre hobby at stupid o'clock this morning?"

"In a nutshell"

Gill shook her head. Life continued to baffle her. "Is Rachel still in with Gabby?"

"They've taken a break. She's getting nowhere with questioning."

"So, have we got any prints off the post?"

"Two sets" said Janet, her eyes blue were gleaming. Gill was going to like this! "One was from Miss Environment, obviously."

Gill rolled her eyes. Life would be a lot easier without members of the public stroking her evidence. "And the other?" Why did Janet insist on keeping her in suspense.

"Ah well, this is where it gets interesting"

Gill was shaking her head, she'd been a police officer for nearly 28 years. "try me?"

"Well" said Janet. "The other DNA trace isn't on file. But..."

**To be continued...**


	11. Chapter 11

**Again, sorry for procedure, and sorry if this is a bit rushed but I can't cover ALL the interviews or we really would be here forever!**

"The DNA has flagged up Gabby Reynolds as a close genetic match."

"What?" Gill was taken aback. What did Janet mean?

"It's someone Gabby would share 50% of her genes with"

Gill was shaking her head again. "Who? Her father?"

"He was definitely in hospital at the time, we double checked! But the DNA does belong to a male"

"So what? A brother?"

"We're in the middle of checking the birth records." Said Janet "We're also TIEing everyone from the yard today, and everyone from Gabby's work who can't provide a decent alibi for the night of her murder."

"Right" said Gill, she was confused again. What _was_ it about this case? It certainly wasn't straight forward. "So we _are_ closer to finding who the killer was?"

Janet smiled "Yes boss, although we're not much closer to finding out _why_"

Gill sighed "Oh joy. Well, if we can find out what an earth has happened here before the CID squirrels get hold of it then that would be bloody fantastic." She looked up as Rachel knocked on the door behind Janet. _At least Rachel still knocks_ thought Gill, pleased that she hadn't lost the complete respect of her team.

"Ma'am, we've looked into Reynolds finances, and something very interesting has flagged up."

"Wait, shouldn't you be in with Gabby now?"

"Her solicitor wants _another_ chat. She's trying to strike some deal with us in return for information"

Gill rolled her eyes. Solicitors were always the bane of her life. "What did you come to tell me then?"

"Their income is not consistent with their out-payments. The company should be making a net profit on the car parts they can sell on before scrapping them, but they've been raking it in. The company has been earning more than it should and so has Gabby. She's been taking a mother-load of cash out of the business, and nobody has noticed because she's raking so much in! But then the tax man doesn't get near her. It gets paid straight out again."

"But why?" said Janet "And where?"

"To her father. When he's not in hospital he's living in a residential home with specialist assistance for people who need round the clock care. It averages at about £1000 a week!"

"Jesus" Janet muttered.

"So maybe her money problems have got her into trouble in some way? Maybe she's having to protect the real killer because of money owed, or a deal that's been struck?"

"But where's it all coming from?" Gill was starting to get very tired of being so confused!

"Well, Ricky Brent's mother did say that the company may be doing dodgy dealings with the group Ricky worked for!" Janet reminded her

Rachel nodded. "Mitch checked out this David Bond, and turns out he's got a lot of previous. Stealing cars appears to be a hobby of his. I think he sees imprisonment as an occupational hazard!"

"I want him found then. You can get Mitch to interview him!" said Gill.

"Yes Ma'am"

XxXxX

"We've found a murder weapon Miss Reynolds" said Rachel, looking across the table into Gabby's dark eyes, which were now darting all over the place. She was breathing heavily and seemed to be shaking as she spoke.

"Sh-she fell over." She stammered. "She definitely fell over"

"You see Gabby, this is where I'm having trouble following you" said Rachel carefully. "Post-mortem results of Holly Wainwright's body show us that she was killed by a blow to the head. But I'm afraid that what you're telling us is not consistent with this, as we know that something hit Holly. Holly didn't hit something." Gabby let out what sounded like a terrified squeak, closely followed by a stifled sob. Rachel looked at her closely again. She looked terrified. No, she looked more than that. She looked completely distraught. Her expression reminded Rachel of a time she'd had to give the news to an elderly couple that their son had been charged with the rape of a 15 year old girl. They had looked so tortured. As if all the years of love and pride that they had treasured for their son, was being shattered into more and more tiny shards of confusion and guilt with every word Rachel spoke. _It's always the parents who are blamed_, she remembered Gill telling her after the court case was concluded. Suddenly, she looked up as she'd just had a thought. "Interview suspended at 11.03"She said quickly, ignoring the grunt of surprise that Pete had given from behind her, and checking her watch to confirm the time. She stopped the tape and stood up, hearing Pete stumble up behind her as she headed for the door.

XxXxX

"Boss, we've TIE'd Barry Mason, the young lad from the yard, and something very interesting has come up on his records!" said Janet.

Gill looked up from her computer for the fourth time that day. This was the second time Janet hadn't bothered to knock. "What?"

"He spent 6 years living in the Greenwood Children's Home in Chadderton."

"Is that the one Holly Wainwright was at?" Gill was suddenly very interested.

"Yes!" said Janet smiling "And they were both there at around the same time. They were 3 years apart in age. There's a very good chance they'd have known each other quite well. Perhaps stayed in touch?"

"Bring him in. What about DNA?

"Still waiting on it, but that's enough to question him isn't it?"

"Oh yes" nodded Gill, with the familiar gleam of excitement in her eye. She smiled at Janet, but her smile vanished as she turned to look behind Janet, where Rachel had come running up.

"Ma'am" Rachel was breathless, she'd run all the way up the stairs from the interview room without a second thought, but now she wasn't quite sure what to say.

"Rachel, if you don't like interviewing Gabby then you could just say" Said Gill sarcastically. This was the second time she'd been under the impression that Rachel was actually conducting an interview.

"She must be a mother!"

"What?" Gill and Janet were both staring at her.

"A mother. She's protecting her child. She must be. I can see it on her face" Rachel knew they thought she was babbling but she didn't care. She just had to get her words out.

"Who's a mother?" asked Janet calmly from beside her. She was slightly worried that Rachel might fall over at any second. She was certainly good at that.

"Gabby Reynolds. It all makes sense" Rachel was looking between Janet and Gill as she spoke. "Who would you protect over everyone else? Whatever they'd done, who would you want to know was safe." She looked desperately between the two women. They were both mothers, and for a couple of months even Rachel had felt that strong maternal instinct of protection. Something in her chest ached as she remembered. She tried to put it out of her mind. "We said that Gabby was doing dodgy dealings because of financial issues implicating her family. Mitch has got that much out of David Bond! So the killer must have had some personal reason for being so involved. Maybe they were protecting their own. Their family. And who would she want to protect if not her son!"

"But she doesn't have a son." Janet said gently

"Maybe she does!" said Gill slowly. "What was it you were saying about Barry Mason?"

"Barry Mason?" said Rachel, sounding confused

"That young lad at the yard" said Janet. He's been in care all his life"

"Do we have his DNA yet?" said Rachel, looking at Gill who was already dialling a number on her office phone.

"Only one way to find out." Gill paused, putting the receiver to her ear and waiting for a reply. "Hello, yes, DCI Gill Murray MIT. I need the DNA of Barry Mason, taken from the TIEs done this morning, to be compared with that of Gabriella Reynolds. Case reference CS56. And I need the results of this now, right now" Gill waited. Rachel looked at Janet, they were both eagerly awaiting the result. "Yes?..Yes I am... You have?" Rachel frowned. She hated only being able to hear one side of a conversation._ Gill could be talking to herself for all I know, _she thought_. Actually, she probably does, when she's alone. I know I do._ Rachel shook her head to stop her mind running away and concentrated on what her boss was saying. "I would like to be informed if information like this crops up...yes...well what am I paying premium rate for? For you to sit on your arse all day doing fuck all?...Yes...thank you. Thanks. Bye" She slammed the phone down.

"They discovered that the DNA of Gabby Reynolds was a close genetic link to that of Barry Mason over an hour ago. They just didn't think it was urgent enough." She was shaking her head, looking disgusted. "I mean, what were they thinking?"

"So he's her son?" said Rachel eagerly

Gill smiled. "Well done Sherlock! Bring him in!"

XxXxX

"Miss Reynolds, why didn't you tell us that one of your employees, Barry Mason, was your son?" asked Rachel, her voice steady and emotionless, with only a slight hint of curiosity.

Gabby gave a gasp.

"Would you like me to tell you why I don't think you told us Gabby?" said Rachel dryly. Gabby's eyes were shut and she was shaking her head. "I think the reason you didn't tell us that he was you son was because you knew he'd done something stupid. Maybe even something dangerous." Rachel looked very closely at Gabby. She was shaking, but she wasn't denying it.

"My client was not prepared for this line of questioning" said the solicitor, straight on the defence.

"Gabby?" said Rachel, ignoring the solicitor. "Gabby, I think you know. I think you know that he'd killed Holly. I think you worked it out, and that's why you said you'd done it. You wanted to protect him. To protect your son. Is that right Gabby?"

Gabby was crying now. Rachel couldn't help feeling sorry for her, although she didn't know why. Rachel knew what it was like to protect someone you loved from something very wrong that they'd done.

"He did it for _me_" she spluttered.

"Who, Barry?" Rachel was pushing for a name. Without a name a witness statement was pretty much useless, as the prosecution would tear it apart.

"It was all for his granddad. He still wanted to help" she looked up at Rachel "He wanted to be part of the family, even after everything I did to him"

"What happened Gabby?" Asked Rachel desperately, were they _finally_ going to find out the truth?

Gabby let out another sob and raised her shaking hand to her face.

"Gabby it's really important you tell me everything you know." Said Rachel. She kept her voice strong. "Also Gabby, and this is really important" Rachel couldn't stress this word enough "I need to know. Do you know the whereabouts of Detective Constable Kevin Lumb?"


	12. Chapter 12

**If you actually read this you deserve a medal, I'm sorry. But I had to explain everything!**

"So Barry, can I call you Barry?" Mitch was glancing at the solicitor and social worker present. He hated interviewing anyone underage; it really wasn't easy as there were so many things that could go wrong.

"Barry, how well did you know Holly Wainwright?"

"I didn't"

"Now we know that isn't true Barry. We know you were both residents of the Greenwood Children's Home in 2001."

"I..."

"So Barry, how well did you know Holly Wainwright?"

"No comment" the lad stammered.

"You knew her quite well didn't you?" Mitch continued.

"No comment"

"Barry, we discovered two phones dumped in a bin just off of Victoria Street in Chadderton. They've got your fingerprints all over them, and the Sim Cards inside matches the phone numbers we have for Holly Wainwright and Ricky Brent." Barry was breathing heavily, looking at the floor. "We have found a number of texts sent between both of these phones and the one we took off of you when you arrived at the station." Mitch picked up a piece of paper. _"Meet me outside the yard at 9_" he read out. He looked up at Barry. "Surprisingly this was sent from Holly's phone, not yours. And it was sent to both your phone, and Ricky's phone. So she arranged to meet both of you did she Barry?"

"No comment"

"Barry, this tape may well be shown to a jury at a later stage. When they are deciding your sentence, they will take into consideration how willing you were to help us" Barry looked at the floor. Mitch sighed and picked up a plastic wallet with a picture inside.  
"For the benefit of the tape I am now showing Barry exhibit PT5" Mitch pushed the picture over to Barry's side of the table "Have you ever seen this metal post before Barry?"

"I..." Barry looked highly perplexed. "I don't know" he stammered.

"Do you recognise it?"

"I...I don't know"

"We found a set of your fingerprints on this metal post Barry. Could you tell me how they got there?"

"I...I don't know"

"This was the metal post used to kill Holly Wainwright Barry. So I'll ask you again. Do you know how your fingerprints got on this post?"

"I don't know"

"DC Mitchell" his solicitor had leant forward. "My client has made it quite clear that he doesn't know"

"Would you like me to tell you how I think they got there?" Said Mitch, ignoring the solicitor

The solicitor tutted and Barry begun to tap his foot on the floor nervously.

"What I think Barry, is that you went to meet Holly. You expected her to be on her own, but when you got there you found Ricky too. Was it jealousy Barry, that made you pick up the metal post and hit Holly?"

"I..."

"Were you in love with her? The girl you'd known most of your life. And you couldn't bear to see her with someone else. Is that why you killed her Barry?"

"No." Barry sounded desperate.

"But you did kill her Barry. Didn't you?"

XxXxX

"Gabby, why did you put Barry into care?" asked Rachel. She thought she'd try and get Gabby talking in a different way.

"I was 17" she sobbed. "I would've gone to college. I couldn't have handled it and Dad thought it was best."

"When did you and Barry make contact again"

"A few years ago. He came asking if there were any Saturday jobs coming. I could take on people from the age of 14 so I said I'd see him. When he came in he said that I was his mum. He'd found me. I couldn't believe it. My dad had just got ill and I thought I was going to have nobody. It felt like a miracle."

"So you saw him as a replacement for your dad?" Rachel couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice" "Where is DC Lumb Miss Reynolds?"

"I don't know" said Gabby Reynolds shaking.

"Gabby, if Barry is charged with the murder of Holly Wainwright and Ricky Brent, then you will most probably be charged with assisting an offender, perverting the course of justice and maybe even accessory to murder."

"But I didn't..."

"Therefore" Rachel continued "I don't think you really want the charge of kidnapping a police officer to add to that list."

"I..."

"Gabby this is so important."

XxXxX

"I did it" said Barry bitterly. "I killed 'em both."

"Why did you do it Barry?" asked Mitch, very seriously.

"She said she wanted to meet me. I didn't know why so I went. When I got there she wanted it out with us, about the cars"

"What about the cars Barry."

"Mum only wanted to help Grandad"

"What about the cars Barry?" Mitch repeated.

"Dave was stealing them. Mum let 'em store 'em at the yard for a price. Then when they flogged them she'd rake in 40%. Grandad needed the money"

"Is this David Bond Barry?" Barry nodded. "Who else was involved?"

"Dave was the boss. Amil was just his sidekick. Ricky was the one who had to come to the yard to do the deals."

"Sorry Barry, Amil who?" Mitch could hear the young DC frantically scribbling behind him.

"Amil Mallick. I barely ever saw him but I heard of him. If anyone didn't do what they were supposed to then Amil heard about it. He was tough" Barry gave a sniff. "Holly had thought Ricky were cheating on her. She followed him and saw him talking with me. Mum was out trying to sweet talk Dave because she'd sold some of the car parts on without his permission. I'd been left to sort out when the next car was coming in with Ricky. Holly heard the whole conversation. She decided to have it out with me and Ricky. She said we had to go to the cops, that we wouldn't be in trouble, only mum and Dave would. I couldn't have that." He sounded angry now. "Mum's done so much for me over the last few years. She got me the job." Mitch frowned, secretly thinking that he couldn't see much effort on Gabby's part.

"I told her" continued Barry. "I told her that she didn't deserve it but she told me she did. She said she was horrible and that I was better off without her. The metal post was in my hand...I didn't mean to..." His voice trailed off. The social worker was looking rather put out.

"So you hit her?" Asked Mitch quietly.

"She just fell to the ground." Barry was shaking. "She wasn't moving." Ricky got freaked out. He started shouting that I was a psycho then he ran away"

"So what did you do then?"

"I couldn't lift the body, and I realised my DNA would be all over her if I tried, so I got the gloves I use to pick up sharp bits of metal at work, they were in my pocket. I put them on then dragged her through the broken bit of fence where that lorry had gone through. I knew the cameras wouldn't see me. I dragged her round the back of the tires at the left of the yard, out of sight and dumped her in a car where I thought no one would touch for a while. I didn't think Terry would find her" His voice was breaking at every few words. His feet were still tapping desperately on the ground, as if he wanted the ground below him to collapse so that he could fall through.

"But somebody did find him"

"Terry did, yeah"

"What did you do then? What about Ricky?"

"I tried getting hold of him, he wouldn't answer. Apparently he'd quit working for Dave. Dave was really mad about it. So I text him, telling him that I'd fit him up for the murder unless he met me at the yard at 3 on the Sunday. He did, and when he came along I pushed him. He fell against a car, a Fiesta I think, and was knocked out. I took the wing mirror off of the car and hit him with it to make sure, then I dragged him into the back seat. There was an old rug thing in the back, so I covered him over with it and left. I needed to get a car so that I could take the body away; I couldn't resist another one being found. I hotwired this car, Grandad was teaching me how I'd do it when I visited him in hospital. Mum had been teaching me how to manoeuvre cars around so I knew how to drive it. I thought the barrier would be down, but it weren't. I lost control.

XxXxX

"He told me at first that the copper had just tripped over and hit his head. He said he'd panicked thinking they'd blame him and had hidden him in my car. He was all crying, saying that he was a care kid and would definitely be blamed. I felt so bad."

"He was making you feel guilty." Said Rachel pityingly. "He knew you felt guilty for putting for him care and he used it against you" _Manipulative pair!_

"When I read that Holly had been at the same care home, and you were talking about the dog I knew that it must've been him. I knew he'd been to the yard that night, and where else would the dog hair have come from. He was looking after him."

"So you thought you'd do the right thing as a mother for the first time in your life?" Said Rachel questioningly.

"I had to."

"But actually Gabby, you didn't. By taking the blame, you showed him that you didn't'[t mind what he had done. You showed him that you were a pushover, and more importantly you showed him that he could do it again. He murdered two innocent people, and has potentially done serious harm to a police officer."

"He's just a boy"

"We'll see what the court thinks of that Miss Reynolds."

XxXxX

"When the car had stopped I got out quickly and ran to hide behind some tires, near to where the Fiesta was with Ricky's body. Then I saw that copper. He's been trying to get himself out of the car. I think he'd got stuck. I thought he might've seen the body and I panicked. As he got out I grabbed him and banged his head on the side of the door to knock him out."

Mitch couldn't help feeling a pang of fear. Did this mean Kevin was dead? Barry was now rocking backwards and forwards.

"I couldn't get him back in the car. I thought it was because of that vest thing he was wearing so I took it off and threw it in the back seat with Ricky." Mitch nodded. So that was why Kevin's vest had been in the car. "He still wouldn't go in" Barry sounded angry, as if he was reliving the moment. "I remembered mum had left her car over by the control room because Dave had picked her up from the yard. So I dragged him round the back of all the cars. I'd taken the keys from mum before she went out, incase she'd got dropped off at the yard by Dave. If she'd been pissed she wouldn't have been safe to drive." _But murder's fine,_ thought Mitch_. "_I opened the boot and managed to get that stupid fat copper inside" Mitch couldn't help thinking that if it had been he in that situation, Barry certainly wouldn't have been able to lift him.

"Then I went into the control room. I had mums keys because I'd locked up on Saturday night. Mum had shown me how to use the machinery because she said she was training me to run the business one day" he sounded so proud. _Poor kid _Mitch thought, _his mum has really spun him a story."_I was going to get rid of that stolen car but I couldn't grab hold of it. So I picked up the Fiesta instead and managed to get it over the machine. It seemed to perfect to be able to dispose of Ricky's body" Mitch didn't like his tone, it was if he relished the death all of a sudden.

"So you thought nobody would ever find out there had been a body in there at all?"

"I didn't know you knew there'd been your copper in there until you started saying he was dead."

"So where is he now Barry?" Mitch asked. He had got the confession for murder that he had wanted, but now he only cared about one thing. He wanted Kevin back!


	13. Chapter 13 The end

**The final chapter**

"Right, Janet and Rachel I want you to go with the blues and twos. " said Gill. They nodded, grabbing their coats. It was pandemonium. Barry had just told Mitch that he had been keeping Kevin in an old lock-up belonging to his Grandad at the west side of Chadderton.

Rachel was glad that Janet was driving as her own legs were shaking uncontrollably. As the police car infront of them pulled up, Rachel looked at Janet, who returned her gaze. "What if he's?" She couldn't say it.

"Come on" said Janet, with a flick of her head as she opened the car door. Rachel followed suit and soon they were both hot on the heels of the uniformed officers who had broken down the door of the lock up, shouting as they entered.

"Over here" Rachel heard one of them shout, and she blinked, trying hard to see anything in the dim light. Suddenly she was blinded as a police officer found a light switch, and a bulb above her head was suddenly lighting the room with a bright yellow glow. As her eyes grew accustomed to the light, she saw a couple of uniformed lads scrabbling with a dark shape over in one corner. Her heart lurched as she instantly thought the worst, but as she fully focused on what she was looking at, she realised that the officers were untying the person's hands and mouth. As they pulled the rope away Rachel heart skipped several beats, and her face transformed into the biggest smile.

"KEVIN" She ran at him. He was still sitting on the floor, leaning against the side of the wall, but she didn't care. She pushed the two officers aside and pulled him up into her arms.  
Kevin was completely taken aback. He felt weak from the low supplies of food and water he had been provided with in the last couple of days, and now he was being smothered by an over enthusiastic colleague.

"There's no point finding me alive if you then kill me with a hug" Kevin protested weakly and Rachel let go guiltily. She pulled away, and then grabbed hold of his head so that he was looking straight at her.

"Are you alright?" she said shakily, trying to hold back the sudden tears of joy. Janet had come up close behind her.

"I was..." said Kevin, his voice sounding stronger now. "But I think you've bust a couple of my ribs. Jesus!"

"Oh Kevin" laughed Janet, and she didn't even attempt not to cry.

XxXxX

"Ready?" said Rachel looking at Kevin. He had been fully checked out by the medical team, but had a few cuts on his face, along with a bruise where he's been knocked unconscious. He had been telling Rachel all about how he'd woken up in that dark lock-up, gagged and tied up. He hadn't clearly seen Barry's face until the final day, when the light had been on, and Barry had told him that he was coming back to kill him. Rachel had shivered at this thought, although, she thought by now she should have been quite used to the idea of a dead Kevin.

"Look who's baaaack!" said Rachel dramatically. The team were all assembled. There was a cheer as Rachel stepped aside, and Kevin walked sheepishly out into the open.

"Mr Rutterford sends his regards." Said Janet smiling, opening her arms to him.

"I've missed you Scotty" said Kevin smiling and she hugged him tight.

"Welcome back Kev."

There was a chorus of "Welcome back Kev" as all the lads stepped forward to clap him on the back. Pete looked slightly like he wanted to give him a hug as well.

"Welcome back Kevin." The lads parted and Kevin saw Julie Dodson walking towards him.

"Ma'am" he said shocked. Julie held out her hand out. He shook it. The smile slowly spreading back across his face.

"Don't worry, I didn't miss you. But then I just assumed you'd waltzed off on some exotic holiday." Kevin laughed nervously. "Although" she continued "I hope you are aware how much that stab proof vest will cost to replace!" her voice was very serious, but there was a twinkle in her brown eye. "Good to have you back DC Lumb. The paper clips haven't been sorted in days" and with that, she grinned at Gill, gave a small wave to everyone with a mutter of "good bye" and walked out of the door. Her red heels clacking as she walked along the corridor outside.

"So where were you Kev?" asked Mitch jokingly.

"Oh you know" said Kevin shrugging. "Hooked up with some chicks, ended up in Barcelona" he looked up pretending to look guilty and surprised, although he couldn't hide his grin. "Sorry. Were you lot worried about me?" Rachel gave him a friendly punch.

"I wouldn't go that far!" Gill had finally stepped forward. She walked up to him slowly, and he went red as she approached; looking at him straight in the face.

"You gave us all quite a scare" she said, quite seriously.

"Sorry Ma'am"

"Only you could be eaten by a dinosaur and still be alive"

"Well technically ma'am I wasn't..."

"Have we learned something about climbing into cars during surveillance operations?" She had ignored his previous comment as it had been about to ruin her witty comment.

"Yes Ma'am"

"And we won't do it again?"

"No Ma'am"

"Good" Gill nodded. She looked up at him. "The office hasn't been the same without you" He dared to give a small smirk. "Although" she said, and this time she couldn't hide her amusement. "There were more chocolate biscuits left at the briefing. And it was nice to have a full team that I could rely on not to fall asleep"

He looked down. "Yes Ma'am"

She smiled and patted his shoulder awkwardly. "It's good to have you back Kevin." His eyes widened in surprise as she turned, and began walking away.

"Oh and Kevin" she said, spinning back round to face him.

"Yes Ma'am?" he said eagerly

"You owe me a drink!"

"Do I Ma'am? Why?" He looked confused

"Call it compensation"

"Compensation for what?"

"Because there's still a bruise on my bloody toe!" And with that she walked away, leaving Kevin standing there; a look of pure disbelief on his face. Rachel and Janet smiled at one another. It had all turned out alright. Everything was back to normal!

"Sorry Kev" said Lee laughing, "I never did offer her any oinkment..."

**THE END.**

**I know this fic didn't turn out QUITE the way it was first intended. This stemed from a potato called Kevin. I then informed everyone that Kevin had been eaten, and the idea that Kevin from Scott and Bailey had somehow been eaten suddenly got born. I took on the challenge of writing this fic, knowing I had to include Peppa pig, dinosaurs, Kevin being eaten, and a funeral. I included all of these things in some way, most of them metaphorically. I apologise to anyone who expected this to be a funny, light fic, as it turned into a majorly procedural piece. But I hope the overall storyline was ok, and I thank anyone who stuck with it! Amy x**


End file.
